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Western Spring
2006
T h e Mag a z i n e o f We st e r n C a ro l i n a U n i v e r s i t y
Head of the Class
Teacher Education Program
Earns High Marks
4
Cover Story
Features
8 Partners in Preservation
University, Cherokee Collaborate
To Revitalize Language, Culture
17 Going to the Dogs
Professor Breaks New Ground
With Pet Breed Popularity Study
18 Some Good Sports
Baseball Legend’s Jersey Retired;
Track Runs Circles Around the Rest
25 Reality Check
Business Grad Rubs Shoulders
With Donald Trump on “ The Apprentice”
26 The Western Wing
Catamounts Make Their Mark
In Our Nation’s Capital
29 News and Notes
Catch Up with Classmates
Spring 2006
Volume 10, No. 2
Western Carolina University Magazine, formerly known
as Our Purple and Gold, is produced by the Office of
Public Relations in the Division of Advancement and
External Affairs for alumni, faculty, staff, friends and
students of Western Carolina University.
Chancellor John W. Bardo
Vice Chancellor Clifton B. Metcalf
Advancement and
External Affairs
Associate Vice Chancellor Leila Tvedt
Public Relations
Managing Editor Bill Studenc
Associate Editor Teresa Killian
Art Director Rubae Sander
Chief Photographer Mark Haskett ’ 87
Contributing Writers Mike Cawood
Randall Holcombe
Daniel Hooker ’ 01
John Kenyon
Christy McCarley ’ 71 MA’ 78
Jim Rowell ’ 72
Dianne Yount ’ 79
Student Writer Gary Takacs ’ 06
Contributing Designers John Balentine
Loretta Adams ’ 80
Contributing Photographer Ashley T. Evans
Special thanks to:
Tyler Norris Goode of The Asheville Citizen- Times,
Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation Department
and the Cherokee Preservation Foundation for their
contributions to this issue
Please send story ideas and suggestions to
Western Carolina University Magazine
Suite 420, H. F. Robinson Building
Western Carolina University
Cullowhee, NC 28723
or via e- mail: bstudenc@ wcu. edu
Go to the Western Carolina University Alumni Association
Web site ( alumni. wcu. edu) to add a class note, update your
information, or catch up on campus events.
Postmaster: Send address changes to
Office of Alumni Affairs, Suite 520, H. F. Robinson Building
Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC 28723
Making the Grade
Efforts to Ease Teacher Shortage
Earn National Recognition
T he M a g a z i n e o f W e s te r n C a r o l i n a U n i v e r s i t y Western
The statue of the Catamount mascot, a
2000 gift to Western from longtime benefactor
Irwin Belk, has a new position of prominence on
campus. Workers have relocated the bronze
sculpture from its previous home off Centennial
Drive to inside the traffic circle at the main
entrance to the university.
Student teacher Christie Walters is surrounded by some
of her young friends at Scotts Creek Elementary School
in Jackson County. Walters is pictured on the cover with
( clockwise from left) Alex Hernandez, Alannah Quinn,
Tony Houston and Leah Woodring.
at Western that ‘ it takes a partnership to prepare a teacher,’”
he said. “ By working closely with our school partners,
we strive to prepare teachers who can help all students
learn to a high level of academic achievement. We call it
a ‘ partnership for performance.’”
Established in 1997 as one of 14 such partnerships
in North Carolina, SUTEP has formal agreements with 80
schools in 17 WNC school systems and informal partner-ships
with the remaining school systems and charter schools
in the region. Through the partnership, which also involves
faculty members from Western’s College of Arts and Sciences,
educators from local systems help provide a “ real- world
classroom” perspective to students in the university’s teacher
education program. Teachers serve as clinical faculty, co-teaching
selected courses with Western instructors in an
effort to blend theory and prac-tice,
and as cooperating teachers
working with faculty members
on education research projects.
Local school systems also provide
pre- service field experience for
Western’s student teachers – an
activity that had been taking
place long before the formal
partnership began.
“ North Carolina is facing
an education crisis, and to
compete in a knowledge- based
global economy, we just have to
strengthen our public schools
and get more of our people
better educated,” said Erskine
Bowles, president of the Univer-sity
of North Carolina system.
“ As a university, we have com-mitted
to make teacher educa-tion
a top priority and to do all
we can to address the shortage
of classroom teachers, as well as
the quality of our teachers, curriculum and school leaders.
The SUTEP program at Western offers a proven model that
is attracting national praise, and it shows how much can
be achieved when our campuses and the local schools work
together as one team.”
In keeping with that pledge to make teacher education
a priority, the UNC Board of Governors has included initial
planning money for a new education and allied professions
building at WCU as part of its initial capital budget request
to the N. C. General Assembly for the 2006- 07 fiscal year.
That is the first step in making the proposed $ 34 million
project a reality.
The superintendent of one of WCU’s local school
system partners said she is not surprised by the show of
state support and the national recognition Western’s teacher
education program is receiving. “ I am a graduate of WCU
with three education degrees and am very thankful for
the outstanding education I received,” said Anne Garrett
’ 78 MS ’ 82 EdS ’ 84, superintendent of Haywood County
schools. “ The faculty and staff at Western are very deserving
of this prestigious award, and they provide quality teachers
and administrators for our classrooms and schools in
Haywood County. We have an excellent partnership with
the university and have several of our staff teaching under-graduate
and graduate classes.”
Garrett and other educators say that it is through such
partnerships and other innovative methods that North
Carolina can begin to solve the teacher shortage. In addition
to traditional teacher preparation programs, the university
provides alternative training programs, such as the NC
TEACH program. NC TEACH ( Teachers of Excellence for All
Children) is designed to help alleviate a statewide shortage of
public school teachers by training, supporting and retaining
highly skilled, mid- career professionals who are interested in
becoming teachers. Initiated in 2000, NC TEACH is a joint,
statewide effort of the State Board of Education and the
University of North Carolina, including Western.
Regardless of whether teachers are getting prepared to
work in North Carolina classrooms through a traditional
teacher education program or through a mid- career lateral
entry initiative, Western is ready, willing and able to do its
part to help train the teachers of tomorrow, said Chancellor
John W. Bardo.
“ Western was founded as a teacher education institu-tion,
and preparing highly qualified teachers has always
been among the hallmarks of this university,” Bardo said.
“ That responsibility has become even more critical because
continuing prosperity for our region, state and nation must
be built upon the foundation of education. We are proud of
the vital role our teacher education graduates are playing in
ensuring that future, and we are thrilled that our partner-ship
with local school systems has received this significant
national recognition.”
# 1
n upsurge in the school- age population in North
Carolina, combined with legislative demands for
smaller class sizes and an increase in teacher qualifi-cation
requirements due to the federal No Child Left Behind
Act, is leading to what many are calling a looming crisis in
the state’s classrooms. In fact, experts say North Carolina
already is in the midst of a shortage of qualified teachers and
that the situation is getting worse, as the state’s public and
private colleges are producing only about 3,300 traditionally
trained teachers per year – far short of the nearly 10,000
new teachers needed annually.
If the faculty and staff of West-ern’s
College of Education and Allied
Professions have anything to say about
it, however, that shortage should be
short- lived. In recent years, the college
has mounted several new initiatives
aimed at reversing the teacher short-age
by improving working conditions
for educators, providing additional support to new teachers
and working hand- in- hand with public school systems across
Western North Carolina.
Those efforts are beginning to pay dividends – in more
ways than one. The College of Education and Allied Profes-sions
is now winning national recognition for its teacher
education program and for its outstanding working rela-tionships
with local school systems. The university earlier
this year was named recipient of the 2006 Distinguished
Program in Teacher Education award by the Association
of Teacher Educators. Western beat out co- finalist Arizona
State University for the honor.
ATE presented the award to Western for its teacher
preparation program that features ongoing collaboration
with school systems across WNC through the School-
University Teacher Education Partnership. SUTEP is part
of Western’s effort to improve the academic achievement
of students in all grade levels by providing assistance to
educators at each step in their development – when they are
student teachers, when they first enter the teaching profes-sion,
and when they are seeking additional professional
development in the middle of their careers. The latest
honor for the college comes mere
months after Western placed
among finalists nationally for last
year’s Christa McAuliffe Excellence
in Teacher Education Award
presented annually by the American
Association of State Colleges
and Universities.
“ Receiving this prestigious
national award is certainly an important validation of our
mission to prepare high- quality teachers for North Carolina’s
public schools,” said Michael Dougherty, dean of the College
of Education and Allied Professions. “ As much as this award
means to us in the teacher education program, however, the
bigger reward comes from knowing that our graduates are
making a real difference in the lives of young people, and
that our faculty members are making a real difference in the
lives of our teachers.”
Dougherty called the award “ a strong endorsement”
of the region’s public schools and their involvement in the
university’s teacher preparation program. “ We have a saying
Western’s Efforts to Combat Teacher Shortage Win National Award
By BILL STUDENC
A
We’re
Number 1!
“ Western offers a proven model that
is attracting national praise,
and it shows how much can be
achieved when our campuses
and the local schools work together.”
— UNC President Erskine Bowles
Student teacher Telly B a nks work s wi th pupils at Can ton Midd le School.
WCU student Debbie Dills guides East Franklin Elementar y School students Maria Mora ( left)
and Ana Martinez during a science class.
The Magazine of Western Carolina University SPRING 2006 SPRING 2006 The Magazine of Western Carolina University
As part of a university priority to combat a shortage of
qualified teachers in North Carolina classrooms, Western’s
newly established Center for the Support of Beginning
Teachers is helping Western North Carolina school systems
to prevent beginning teachers from experiencing “ career
burnout” and leaving the profession.
Housed in Western’s College of Education and Allied
Professions, the center builds upon existing partnerships
with the public schools to try to stem the tide of new teachers
abandoning the profession before they have completed five
years of service.
“ A large part of the teacher shortage we are experiencing
in North Carolina is due to issues we are facing in retaining
qualified teachers in the classroom,” said Michael Dougherty,
dean of the College of Education and Allied Professions. “ This
new center is part of an effort to help keep beginning teachers
in the classroom and provide them support to persist and be
successful in the teaching profession – something that we
often call ‘ mending the leaking bucket.’”
Through the center, Western teacher education faculty
are collaborating with beginning teachers, mentors, central
office personnel, principals, researchers and policy makers on
the development of effective programs to help new teachers
successfully make the transition into the profession. The cen-ter
provides resources and professional development activities
tailored to teachers in WNC, including experiences intended
to result in highly qualified teachers who implement class-room
activities that promote high student performance.
Directing the Center for the Support of Beginning Teachers
is former public school teacher Janice Holt ’ 76 MAEd ’ 77
EdS ’ 87. Holt, who taught in the Jackson County school
system from 1976 until 2000, worked previously for the
university as a teacher- in- residence and with WCU’s School-
University Teacher Education Partnership.
One of the center’s activities is the Teacher Support
Program, which offers an array of direct support services
to all educators in North Carolina who serve students with
disabilities. The purpose of the TSP is to reduce teacher
stress and burnout, increase teacher efficacy, reduce the gap
between research and practice, and retain teachers in
the profession. Services offered include collaborative
problem- solving sessions, electronic communication
and collaboration, on- site consultation, information and
material searches, and mentoring. The TSP is completing
its fifth year of operation, and the university is looking to
replicate the program in the central and eastern regions
of the state in the coming year.
The center also is developing an e- mentoring project
to provide Web- based support to teachers, including online
classrooms and discussion boards designed to provide the
opportunity for new teachers to share resources, lesson plans,
instructional strategies and classroom management tips with
colleagues from schools at five rural school systems. “ We want
to build a community of learners outside the constraints of
geography,” Holt said. “ The virtual network increases new
teachers’ confidence by adding the critical support they need
to stay in the classroom. We also are trying to be respectful of
beginning teachers’ demanding schedules by allowing them
to participate at a time and place most convenient to them,
rather than require that they drive to the central office for
meetings after school.”
First- year teacher Catherine DeWeese ’ 04 said the
e- mentoring program is helping her make a successful
transition from sitting in a classroom to standing in front
of one. “ I was skeptical at first of how this forum would
work for me and how much information I could gain
from it,” DeWeese said. “ As it has turned out, the
online chats have been an enormous benefit to me. I
feel at ease in this setting, and I believe this has led
to more honest and open discussions with my peers.”
“ We must find a way.” Those words, describing North
Carolina’s critical need to attract and retain excellent public
school teachers, inspired a unique idea. The words laid the
groundwork more than 20 years ago for a residential center
to provide experiences to renew the love for learning that
first called them to the teaching profession.
The speaker was Jean Powell of Clinton, North Caroli-na’s
1983 “ Teacher of the Year.” In an address that year
to the Commission on Education for Economic Growth,
headed by Gov. James B. Hunt Jr., Powell said: “ To attract
and retain the best teachers, we must find a way to enhance
their self- worth, pride of accomplishment and enthusiasm.”
The commission liked Powell’s idea. H. F. “ Cotton” Rob-inson,
then chancellor of Western Carolina University, was
named to lead the planning committee for a center to foster
excellence in teaching. Two years later, the state legislature
established on the Western campus the North Carolina
Center for the Advancement of Teaching. The center, better
known as NCCAT, was directed “ to advance the art and
profession of teaching.”
Gradually, teacher- by- teacher, word began to spread that
North Carolina had a special place in the mountains just for
them. Enrollments in seminars increased. Within four years,
NCCAT outgrew its temporary headquarters in Madison
Hall on the WCU campus. A permanent home on a hillside
campus adjacent to the university opened in 1990. The new
buildings, including a conference facility and two residences
for visiting teachers, were given Cherokee names that mean
“ a place in the mountains to explore the human spirit.”
Teachers say that’s exactly what NCCAT seminars pro-vide
– a place to explore their spirits. “ I went to NCCAT, and
it was at a make- or- break point. ‘ Am I going to stay in educa-tion?
Am I not?’ I was getting disenchanted. And the week
that I spent out there, I’m talking to others, interacting,
learning and sharing, and that’s when it really hit me that
education is what I’m supposed to do,” said Bill Melega of
Chapel Hill.
Robin Showalter of Sanford agreed.
“ I returned to the classroom with a
renewed spirit and dedication to my
students and my profession. Without this
experience, I sincerely believe I would have
left the profession,” Showalter said.
More than 5,000 teachers arrive
at NCCAT each year to attend five- day
residential seminars that provide the gift
of time to pursue ideas, meet colleagues
from all over the state, and stretch their
minds with new learning. Seminars cover
a wide range of topics that take teachers on
journeys of the mind. Through the years,
teachers have built electric cars, painted
Latino murals, met Pulitzer Prize- win-ning
authors, catalogued wildflowers, tested water quality in
streams, mapped the constellations, hiked the Appalachian
Trail, cast their lines with commercial fishermen, studied the
science of chocolate, recreated prehistoric tools, dabbled in
DNA sampling and become scientific sleuths at simulated
crime scenes.
Many seminars take participants on real- life journeys
for experiential learning – to the streets of Manhattan for a
behind- the- scenes study of the makings of Broadway shows,
to Montana to retrace parts of the epic Lewis and Clark expe-dition,
and to the Deep South to travel the roads of the civil
rights movement – all in the name of renewing teachers’ zest
for teaching, and for life.
Teachers are able to choose NCCAT adventures in the
mountains and at the coast, and a major expansion will
enable the center to broaden its programs even further.
The former U. S. Coast Guard Station on Ocracoke Island is
undergoing renovations to provide an eastern campus.
With teacher shortages growing, NCCAT has emerged as
a national model for providing new knowledge, support and
encouragement to
a vitally important
profession. “ I’m so
proud of this place,”
former Gov. Hunt
said as part of a 20th
anniversary celebra-tion
at NCCAT. “ His-tory
is going to show
that, in addition to
our great university
system, our two- year
college system and
our public schools,
this is one of the
best things that
we’ve done
in our state.”
New Center Provides Support to Beginning Teachers
By BILL STUDENC
NCCAT Celebrates 20 Years of Professional Renewal
By CHRISTY MCCARLEY ’ 71 MA ’ 78
Leslie Dougherty MAEd ’ 88 ( left), a teacher at Cullowhee Valley Elementary School, works
with Amelia Hastings ’ 05.
The NCCAT campus in Cullowhee provides a welcoming retreat.
Former Gov. James Hunt
The Magazine of Western Carolina University SPRING 2006 SPRING 2006 The Magazine of Western Carolina University
Western students have
participated in archaeological
digs on the campus in Cullowhee,
which was home to Cherokee
settlements lasting up until the
Trail of Tears. Jane Eastman,
director of Cherokee Studies,
will launch a new traveling
program this summer to take
students to visit Cherokee
and other mounds across
the southeast.
Did you grow up on the Qualla Boundary
( also known as the Cherokee Reservation)?
Yes, but my family did live downstate for a few years
during my upbringing.
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Did you ever dream about becoming Principal Chief someday?
I have always been interested in business. I never dreamed about
becoming Principal Chief. The opportunity just presented itself,
and I felt like it was the right path at the right time.
How did you decide to attend Western?
WCU provided a quality education that also allowed me to
remain close to my family and the Cherokee community.
How did you decide to major in business management?
This curriculum provided me the broad background to work toward
my goal of assisting with or running a large company in the future.
What do you like to do for fun?
I love to fish and hunt and spend time with my family.
What is your favorite food?
My favorite food would have to be snow crab legs.
Do you have a motto or words that you live by?
Work hard, be dedicated, and success will follow.
What are people often surprised to learn about the
Cherokee Indians?
That we don’t live in teepees. We are educated and successful
people who still maintain our authentic culture.
How did you learn to speak Cherokee?
Growing up, I would hear the Cherokee language and
pick up a few words here and there. But when I became
Chief, I asked Myrtle Driver ( a fluent speaker) to tutor
me on a regular basis.
What are your hopes for the future of the Eastern Band?
My hope for the future of the Eastern Band is that we continue to
be leaders. We have always been progressive, and I think that will
continue in both the social and economic arenas. I am proud of the
strides we have made culturally in the face of great change, and I
expect we will continue to protect and nurture our Cherokee culture
so that we never lose our identity as a people.
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians elected Hicks
Chief in 2003. He holds an associate’s degree in accounting
from Southwestern Community College and a bachelor’s
degree in business management from Western. He became
a Certified Public Accountant in 1994.
with
Principal Chief Michell Hicks ’ 87
Western Carolina University students
have dug spoonful by spoonful to unearth
artifacts from ancient Cherokee settle-ments
that once stood on land that has
become the university’s campus. They
wanted to learn more about the Cherokee
people, who, despite the odds, have been
an unwavering presence in the mountains
for centuries.
The nature of the Cherokee Studies
Program at Western, though, is changing
– for the better.
“ We have concentrated studies on
Cherokee culture from historical and
anthropological perspectives,” said Jane
Eastman, director of the Cherokee Studies
Program. “ What it’s going to become, and
what it should become, is a group of profes-sors,
staff and students at the university
working with the Cherokee community not
only for academic reasons but also to ex-plore
health issues, economic development
and language revitalization.
“ We hope to offer degree and certificate
programs that support the expressed needs
of the community. The university serves the
region, and the Cherokee people are a very
important community in the region – an
amazing group of people with a long history
in one place,” Eastman said.
The number of partnerships between
WCU and the Eastern Band of Cherokee
Indians, a sovereign nation less than an
hour from Cullowhee, is growing. Tom
Hatley, Sequoyah Distinguished Professor
in Cherokee Studies, and Roseanna Belt,
director of WCU’s Cherokee Center, led a
process of joint planning that resulted in a
historic agreement with the tribe. The lead-ers
of the university and the Eastern Band
spoke at an event to celebrate the signing
of the agreement, or memorandum of
understanding. Chancellor John Bardo said
the university, the Cherokee people and the
Western North Carolina region are “ inextri-cably
intertwined.”
“ The documents we are signing today
are additional evidence of our commitment
to engage with the people of Cherokee for
the mutual benefit of the Eastern Band
and the university, a reciprocal relationship
symbolized by the fact that the documents
we sign are written in both the Cherokee
language and in English,” Bardo said. Prin-cipal
Chief Michell Hicks ’ 87 said the long,
strong relationship between the university
and the Eastern Band is important to the
future of the entire region. “ We have be-come
true neighbors to each other,” he said.
The planning process for the MOU
yielded formation, also, of an ongoing,
diverse task force to pinpoint issues and
opportunities to work together. Lynne Har-lan
of the Eastern Band and Beth Tyson
Lofquist ’ 78 MAEd ’ 79 EdS ’ 88, associate
vice chancellor for academic affairs, co- chair
the diverse group.
Another key development that has
promoted and supported the partnerships
is the establishment in 2000 of the Cherokee
Preservation Foundation. The nonprofit
works to improve the quality of life of the
Eastern Band and strengthen the region
through supporting cultural preservation,
economic and workforce development, and
environmental protection. The foundation
awards grants and convenes and brokers
partnerships between the Eastern Band,
regional neighbors and philanthropic
organizations. Executive Director Susan
Jenkins said more than $ 600,000 has been
granted to seed ongoing initiatives in which
Western is a partner.
“ Our expectations are very high,”
Jenkins said. “ Whether we move forward
on other projects depends on what the
results are. So far, it has been very good.”
Grants resulting from partnerships
have enabled Western to expand and diver-sify
the Cherokee Studies Program. Today,
elders- in- residence such as Freeman Owle
’ 76 MAEd ’ 78 and Tom Belt work and
teach on campus. Newly established
Sequoyah Assistantships help fund the work
of graduate students interested in Chero-kee
studies, and Western has developed an
interdisciplinary certificate program that
allows students to get a graduate degree
with a concentration in Cherokee studies.
A new language program is in development.
A financial freedom program is hosted at
WCU’s Cherokee Center.
Foundation funds have enabled the
university to help operate a program to
revitalize scarce natural resources that
traditional Cherokee artists use. They also
support the exhibition of Cherokee artwork
in the Fine and Performing Arts Center,
which features signage in English and the
Cherokee language, words that capture the
sentiments of cooperation and hope:
Cherokee Story Lives On
Partnerships Write Next Chapter
Series By Teresa Kilian
“ Our Story Lives On”
Principal Chief Michell Hicks ’ 87 and Chancellor
John Bardo sign an agreement in English and Cherokee
to develop partnerships, while Eastern Band community
leaders ( left to right) Lynne Harlan, Kathi Littlejohn,
Dan McCoy, Perry Shell and Marie Junaluska stand
behind them in support.
The Magazine of Western Carolina University SPRING 2006 SPRING 2006 The Magazine of Western Carolina University
What schools offered Cherokee students 100 years
ago in the name of education was a death sentence – a
living death. Boarding schools designed to “ civilize” Indian
children stripped students of their Indian names, cut their
traditionally long hair and forbade them from speaking
their native languages.
Such schools have closed, but
the damage is done: the Cherokee
language is at risk of disappearing, and
without it, many traditions and history
will be lost, said Renissa Walker, man-ager
of the Kituwah Preservation and
Education Program with the Eastern
Band of Cherokee Indians. “ If we lose
our language, are we still Cherokee?”
asked Cherokee singer Paula Nelson.
The Cherokee Preservation Foundation reported this year
that a recent survey, assisted by Western sociologist Kathleen
Brennan, found 72 percent of fluent Cherokee speakers are
over age 50, and the figure concerns Tom Belt, a Western
Carolina University elder- in- residence.
“ The Cherokee language will die out within several
generations if something is not done,” said Belt, who teaches
Cherokee language at Western, which is among universities
that, in contrast to the boarding schools of the past, are allies
of Cherokee culture and language survival.
“ Western’s growing program is a leader among such
schools,” said Tom Hatley, WCU’s Sequoyah Distinguished
Professor in Cherokee Studies. The university, in line with its
recently signed memorandum of understanding, partnered
with the Eastern Band on a multi- year Cherokee language
revitalization initiative. Part of the mission is to produce a
new generation of fluent Cherokee speakers through creat-ing
Cherokee immersion schools on the Qualla Boundary,
commonly known as the Cherokee Reservation. Teachers
will communicate with students in the Cherokee language.
Meanwhile, Western will work to develop curriculum for a
Cherokee language and education program. The goal is not
only to help revitalize the language but also to support those
immersion schools with training high- quality teachers fluent
in the Cherokee language. “ We
want to identify Cherokee speakers
who can become certified teachers,”
said Carrie McLachlan, coordinator of
WCU’s Cherokee Studies Program.
The Cherokee Preservation
Foundation directed $ 458,000 this
year to support the initiative’s first
phase, which includes staffing and
planning for a Cherokee Language Academy and Cherokee
language program development at WCU. The university will
hire a language program developer who is a linguist and a
Cherokee language and community coordinator who is a fluent
Cherokee speaker. The staff members will develop language
courses and certification programs, recruit students to be
teachers and develop a Kituwah Teaching Fellows Program.
Ben Frey, a WCU graduate student and assistant as well
as a member of the Eastern Band, is developing an entire
Cherokee language class with the principles used to design
classes in other modern languages, such as English. He is
integrating grammatical knowledge gained from linguistic
research to create a set of language “ rules” to help Cherokee
language students. His ideas include creating puzzle pieces
that help students put words together and developing a
Cherokee computer game that will teach the language.
“ I want to give something back to the tribe,” Frey said.
“ Language is one of the most solid identifying features a
group of people can have.”
Speaking Up
WCU Boosts Cherokee Language
Classes, Immersion Schools
What began as a request to translate “ The Star- Spangled
Banner” into Cherokee evolved instead into a new song, the
“ United Cherokee Nations Anthem,” which was recorded in
a studio for the first time at Western Carolina University.
The anthem opens with a translation of “ O say can you
see,” but then takes its own course into messages of strength
and the desire for peace. “ It is our own anthem,” said
Renissa Walker, manager of the Kituwah Preservation and
Education Program with the Eastern Band of Cherokee
Indians. Walker’s mother, fluent Cherokee speaker Myrtle
Driver, wrote the lyrics, and Cherokee artist Paula Nelson
put them to music. The anthem, a gift to all three federally
recognized Cherokee tribes, was officially adopted by all
three as their national anthem but was not professionally
recorded until the Kituwah program partnered with WCU
on a new initiative called Project Songbird, Walker said.
The program designed Project Songbird to record
original songs in the Cherokee language to help teach and
revitalize the language. The selections included pieces
about numbers, seasons, a flood and dancing, as well as
the anthem.
Bruce Frazier, Carol Grotnes Belk Distinguished Profes-sor
in Commercial and Electronic Music, combined student
and faculty horsepower with a Cherokee Preservation
Foundation grant in order to record the music at a studio on
campus. “ We wanted to use the university’s state- of- the- art
equipment for instructional purposes and to help support
economic growth in Western North Carolina,” said Frazier,
who was presented with a copy of the finished product this
spring. “ Recording original songs in the Cherokee language
for children and others to learn the language helps fulfill
our mission.”
This CD is only the first of several projects directed at
Cherokee language revitalization, said Carrie McLachlan,
WCU Cherokee studies coordinator. Future phases entail
recording Cherokee language songs in musical styles from
rap to reggae, and there is interest in working with nationally
known Cherokee storytellers. Walker said they want to show
young people that the Cherokee language is not just for the
older generation. “ It’s part of our identity,” Walker said.
Project Songbird Takes Flight
Bruce Frazier, Carol Grotnes Belk Distinguished
Professor in Commercial and Electronic Music,
works at a university recording studio with
Cherokee musician Paula Nelson.
“ The Cherokee language will
die out within several
generations if something
is not done.”
— Cherokee Elder Tom Belt
Historical Maps, Documents
Hunter Library has more than 800 reels
of microfilm for a “ Cherokee Documents
in Foreign Archives” collection of docu-ments
including letters, diaries, census
records, and narratives of Indian captures
that directly mention the Cherokee
Indians, Cherokee territory or Southern
Indians. The library also maintains a
Cherokee maps collection with reproduc-tions
from Great Britain, Canada and
Spain that date primarily to the 17th
and 18th centuries.
A music sample is available at:
www. wcu. edu/ pubinfo/ news/ 2006/ cherokeeanthem. mp3
Resources Preservation
The rivercane, young white oak saplings and clay used by
Cherokee artists are in scarce supply on the tribe’s land,
and Western Carolina University is part of an initiative
to help revitalize those natural resources. The Cherokee
Preservation Foundation began funding the Revital-ization
of Traditional Cherokee Artisan Resources, or
RTCAR, early last year. Operated through WCU’s Chero-kee
Studies program under the leadership of director
David Cozzo and program assistant Debra Standingdeer,
grants have helped support research on rivercane, but-ternut
restoration and the future availability of blood-root,
an essential dye plant for Cherokee basket makers.
New Tools, Research
Sequoyah Assistantships offer
$ 12,000 a year each to two graduate
students who will work 20 hours
a week on a Cherokee or Native
American research project. One
of the students, Ben Frey ( left),
is helping create Cherokee lan-guage
learning tools such as puzzle
pieces with words and designing a
computer game to help teach the
language. Another, Angela Ragan, is
collecting oral histories of Eastern
Band veterans.
The Magazine of Western Carolina 10 University SPRING 2006 SPRING 2006 The Magazine of Western Carolina University 11
The Eastern Band of
Cherokee Indians selected
the name “ Di- sde- li- sgi- a-ni-
wi” for honorary member
Raymond Kinsland. In
Cherokee, the word means
“ helper of young men.”
“ It’s a beautiful lan-guage,”
says Kinsland, 70,
whose temporary teaching
assignment at a Cherokee
school in 1958 transformed
into a life vocation.
Today, Kinsland leads
the Cherokee Boys Club,
which coordinates adminis-trative
and support services
for the Cherokee Central
School System. The club
manages a school bus fleet,
a charter bus service that
serves Western, school food service, and vocational and leadership
programs. Additionally, Kinsland, an announcer at high school
football games, has decades of perfect attendance.
Freeman Owle ’ 76 MAEd ’ 78, a member of the Eastern
Band and an elder- in- residence at Western, said Kinsland has long
deserved the honorary doctorate Western recently bestowed on
him. Kinsland gave everything to young people on the reservation
– time, heart and often his paycheck – to make sure young people
could be paid when they first started working, Owle said. “ He was
just always a guiding light to each and every one of us,” Owle said.
“ He got us started in the right direction, continued with us and
still is with us.”
Kinsland planned to make a career working on his family’s
dairy, but, two weeks after graduating from N. C. State University in
1958, was approached about teaching vocational education at Cher-okee
schools. “ The superintendent sent a lady with a portable type-writer
over to the farm where I was milking cattle,” Kinsland said.
“ She typed my application and begged me to sign it.” He agreed to
a temporary teaching assignment. “ I’ve
been here ever since,” Kinsland said.
Part of his first job entailed working
with vocational clubs. The farm club
grew acres of potatoes, tomatoes and
green beans where the casino is today,
he said. A motor club let students paint
a car or overhaul an engine. “ We had a
lot of young men who needed work and
training,” Kinsland said.
The successes convinced Kinsland
that the discrimination that prevented
Cherokee youth from joining the
Future Farmers of America, spawning
the Cherokee club, was a blessing in
disguise. Later, they merged into the
Cherokee Boys Club, became co- ed
and took the reins of many support
programs for the tribe. “ We provide
the opportunities, but the students get
their own education,” Kinsland said.
Western has helped make their story a success, he said. The
university offers classes on the reservation and has trained educa-tors
who come, return or continue to teach at Cherokee Central
School System, Kinsland said. It was Western’s former Chancellor
H. F. “ Cotton” Robinson, who also had a background in genetics,
who helped purify the strain of Cherokee corn that had cross- bred
with a commercial corn.
“ He got it back to the original strain and brought the seed to
the Cherokee Boys Club, entrusted us to keep it going,” Kinsland
said. “ We are keeping it going.”
Carmaleta Monteith ’ 56, an educational consultant and
member of the Sequoyah professor’s advisory committee, regards
Kinsland as a tribal archivist of sorts. When she needed to review
the history of the hospital, she went to Kinsland first. “ He went
back through the last 25 years of our tribal newspaper, and that
triggered his memory of other, individual stories,” Monteith said.
“ There’s so much historians will never know unless we learn from
Ray Kinsland.”
Life of Service to Youth Leads to Honors for Kinsland
Ray Kinsland helps give Cherokee youth more opportunities.
Cherokee Radio
Cherokee students Evan Stamper ( above) and Drew
Grant visit WWCU- FM Power 90.5, which began
broadcasting a new radio program this year that
features Cherokee students presenting news from the
Cherokee One Feather, the tribe’s weekly newspaper.
SMART Start
WCU student Lydia
Poetker ( right) mentors
students at the Cherokee
Youth Center through
the SMART program.
Not only do Western
students work one- on-one
with Cherokee students, they also host a range
of activities from drama to writing. Part of the
SMART program’s mission is to help the tribe’s
young members connect with their own heritage.
An “ ooh” escaped from the fourth- grade audience as West-ern
Carolina University sophomore Rachel All took slow, even
steps onto the stage and raised her arms, letting golden rays
drape from her costume.
That was when the Spanish education major from Char-lotte
knew she and the WCU Theatre in Education Company
had done their jobs: She
was a regal sun, and the
students were paying
attention to the tradi-tional
stories in the play
“ Young Cherokee.”
The production
is part of Western’s
Theatre in Educa-tion
program, which
program directors Glenda Hensley and Claire Eye ’ 90, visiting
assistant professors in the department of communication, the-atre
and dance, designed so Western students could create and
perform quality theatrical productions that also are education-ally
relevant. To explore diversity and help promote cultural
understanding, the Theatre in Education Company chose to
focus its activities for the community on the Cherokee people,
who shaped the artistic and cultural development of Western
North Carolina.
“ Cherokee is 20 minutes away, and so few of us take the
opportunity to learn about that culture that we are connected
to,” Eye said. “ We hoped it would allow us to pass on to stu-dents
what we learned about the Cherokee.”
The WCU students hosted theatre workshops for Cherokee
eighth- graders during the fall and chose “ Young Cherokee,” a
play by Kathryn Schultz Miller, to perform in the spring. In the
play, a Cherokee boy named Chosen One battles an Underwater
Panther and a Thunderbird as he tries to restore power to the
sun and fire. He overcomes fear, shows love for all things on
earth and glimpses the greatest enemy of the Cherokee culture
– the approach of people with vastly different beliefs.
WCU students worked with people such as Cherokee art-ist
Davy Arch, who produced hand- carved masks for the show.
The company received help from WCU’s Cherokee Center
and its director, Roseanna Belt, and other Cherokee elders
and members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. They
traveled to Cherokee and consulted with tribal members to
help design the most historically accurate production, from
the design of the costumes to the retelling of Cherokee stories.
The students adapted the script to change a crawfish to a water
beetle, for instance, in order to better reflect Cherokee stories
of this region, said Sara Dodson, a senior theatre student and
the play’s director.
“ We learned so much about the Cherokee because we
wanted to stay as true to the story as possible,” said Dodson,
who plans to return to her home state of Florida after gradua-tion
to work with a drama ministry.
The Theatre in Education initiative has attracted atten-tion
at multiple conferences. The story of how the program
connects college students with younger people in the commu-nity
and creates opportunities for participants to experience
literature, theatre, art and music will be presented again this
summer at the American Alliance of Theater Educators
conference.
“ Weaving cultural and environmental literacy and service
learning into arts- based learning strategies creates so many
possibilities for collaborative learning and teaching designs,”
Hensley said. “ Our goal is to create a Theatre in Education
program that will serve as a model for both artistic excellence
and significant learning.”
Theatre Program Brings Cherokee Stories to Life
Chosen One, played by
Kendris Myers, talks to
Deer, played by Elena
Pisano, under the
watchful eye of
Walking Bear, played
by Tommy Rawe.
WCU student
Rachel All
plays the Sun.
The Magazine of Western Carolina 12 University SPRING 2006 SPRING 2006 The Magazine of Western Carolina University 13
Are you looking for an excuse for a mountain getaway this summer?
The folks at Western’s Fine and Performing Arts Center may have just the
ticket, as the university is launching a new summer subscription series of
Sunday afternoon shows.
Highlighted by a Fourth of July weekend performance of “ Mark Twain
Tonight!” starring motion picture and television star Hal Holbrook, the
series includes a Memorial Day weekend performance of “ A Closer Walk
with Patsy Cline,” a Father’s Day production of a musical revue of the mu-sic
of World War II, and a nostalgic variety show centered on the 1950s.
“ As our inaugural season of shows is nearing a close, we are get-ting
many, many requests from patrons to keep the programming coming
during the summer months,” said Paul Lormand, director of performance
facilities for WCU’s Fine and Performing Arts Center. “ We have scheduled
four wonderful shows for what we are calling our Sunday Sizzlin’ Summer
Shorts Series.”
The series will kick off Sunday, May 28, with “ A Closer Walk with
Patsy Cline,” featuring Erica McGee performing 20 of the country music
legend’s most popular songs, followed by the musical cabaret “ War Bonds:
The Songs and Letters of World War II” on Sunday, June 18.
Holbrook will bring his critically acclaimed portrayal of Mark Twain
to Cullowhee on Sunday, July 2, and “ Laughing with the Legends,” featur-ing
music, memories and merriment from the fabulous ’ 50s, will close the
summer series Sunday, July 30.
All shows will begin at 3 p. m. in the main performance hall of the Fine
and Performing Arts Center. Summer season subscriptions are on sale.
Subscriptions are $ 75 each.
For more information, call the box office at ( 828) 227- 2479.
Toot Uncommon
WCU’s Resident Brass Quintet Headed to UK
By BILL STUDENC
Just the Ticket
Performing Arts Center Raises Curtain
on New Summer Series
The Chancellor’s Speaker Series
will resume in the fall semester as Gen.
Richard B. Myers, former chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, visits campus Monday,
Sept. 18, for a conversation with Western
students and an evening presentation in
the Fine and Performing Arts Center.
The speaker series is designed to
bring significant national and international
leaders to campus to discuss major is-sues
of the day, and to provide Western
students with an opportunity to interact
with some of the people who shape and
influence the world. Past speakers have
included former U. S. Sen. Bob Dole, vice
presidential candidate John Edwards,
former U. S. Surgeon General M. Joycelyn
Elders, Nobel Peace Prize– winning Polish
leader Lech Walesa and actor Danny
Glover.
Myers, who served as the nation’s
15th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
will meet in an informal afternoon session
designed for Western students only. The
session, to include opening remarks fol-lowed
by a question- and- answer period,
will begin at 3 p. m. in the performance
hall of the Fine and Performing Arts
Center. His public address, “ World War
‘ X’: What’s At Stake in the Global War
on Terror,” is scheduled for 7: 30 p. m. and
also will be held in the performance hall.
( Times of both events are subject to
change.)
Myers,
former principal
military adviser
to President
George W. Bush,
was the nation’s
highest- ranking
military officer
from 2001 until
2005, serving
during a period
of unprecedent-ed
global unrest.
He led American forces in Afghanistan
and Iraq, and guided the U. S. military’s
response to the massive domestic and
international relief efforts following 2004’ s
Asian tsunami and 2005’ s Hurricane
Katrina.
Admission to Myers’ evening presen-tation
is free of charge; there is a limit of
four tickets per person. To reserve a seat
or for more information, contact the Fine
and Performing Arts Center box office at
( 828) 227- 2479.
Certain faculty
members at Western
aren’t ones to blow their
own horns… well, actu-ally,
they are, but you
can’t really blame them.
That’s because they’re the
members of the Smoky
Mountain Brass Quintet,
the resident faculty brass
quintet at WCU, and
they’re bound for Eng-land,
Wales and Ireland
this spring.
The United Kingdom
excursion in May is the
second annual interna-tional
tour for the SMBQ,
which participated last
year in the International
Romantic Trumpet Fes-tival
in St. Petersburg,
Russia. Stops on the
upcoming trip include
concerts at the Galway-
Mayo Institute of Technology in Galway, Ireland; the Royal Welch College of Music
and Drama in Cardiff, Wales; and the University of Wales– Swansea. The quintet also
will be performing a children’s concert at the King Henry VIII School in Coventry,
England, and joining the Jaguar Brass Band of Coventry in a benefit concert.
“ We are very excited about this tour because it will help build Western’s already
active relationships with institutions in Galway and Swansea,” said P. Bradley Ulrich,
professor of trumpet at WCU. “ Since this year has been named ‘ the year to promote
study abroad,’ we feel the timing of this tour could not be better.”
Quintet members, in addition to Ulrich, are David Ginn ’ 92, trumpet; Alan F.
Mattingly, horn; Daniel Cherry, trombone; and Michael Schallock, tuba. The group
has been in existence since 1993 and performs a wide range of music from early
music and classical to ragtime, jazz and contemporary compositions.
The recital performances across WNC and in the UK will feature music from the
Southern Appalachian region of the United States, including selections by several
past and present WCU composers. Mark Connor, theory and composition teacher at
WCU, wrote “ Persistent Echoes,” a one- movement piece based on the melody “ Sweet
Prospect” from the Southern Harmony shape- note hymnbook published in the mid-
1800s in the Southern Appalachian region. The ensemble also will perform “ Four
Hymn Tune Settings” by Paul Basler, a WCU faculty member from 1989 until 1992,
and a new three- movement composition based on Cherokee Indian music by Robert
Kehrberg, interim dean of WCU’s College of Arts and Sciences.
“ We are especially proud and excited to be performing Dr. Kehrberg’s latest
piece, which was commissioned by the SMBQ especially for this occasion,” said Ul-rich.
“ This multi- movement piece reflects on the recorded music of the Eastern Band
of the Cherokee and creates new music based on the rhythmic and melodic material
found in these recordings.”
For more information about the SMBQ, visit the Web site www. smbq. com.
The Smoky Mountain Brass Quintet
Speaker Series Resumes
Ex- Chairman of
Joint Chiefs of Staff
on Campus in Fall
Gen. Richard B. Myers
MuseumSCHEDULE
Summer 2006
WORLDVIEWS: Selections from the Permanent
Collection and New Gifts, contemporary art in all media
continuing through September 1
Natalie M. Smith: HIVES mixed media installation
continuing through May 14
Lasting Impressions: Native American Print Portfolio
May 15 – June 11
Master of Fine Arts Degree Program Thesis Exhibitions
June 20 – July 15
Hazel Larsen- Archer: Black Mountain College
Photographer
August 15 – September 10
For more information, contact
Director Martin DeWitt, Fine Art Museum,
( 828) 227- 3591 or mdewitt@ wcu. edu.
Museum Hours: Tuesday – Saturday 10 a. m. – 4 p. m.
and FAPAC Summer Performance Series Sundays
www. wcu. edu/ fapac
The Fine Art Museum
at the Fine & Performing
Arts Center
The Magazine of Western Carolina 14 University SPRING 2006 SPRING 2006 The Magazine of Western Carolina University 15
Here’s one professor whose research truly has gone
to the dogs.
Hal Herzog, professor of psychology at Western, had
long wondered why people choose the types of dogs they
select for pets. Working with university colleagues in London
and California, Herzog examined American Kennel Club
records of more than 40 million purebred puppies registered
in the United States over the past 50 years.
His findings? Man picks man’s best friend not on the
basis of reason or because the breed inherently makes a
good pet. Instead, it’s a matter of what’s trendy, Herzog
says. The results of the study, originally published in the
Royal Society’s Biology Letters ( a scientific journal in Great
Britain), attracted quite a bit of attention in the British press
before being picked up by USA Today and other American
news media.
Dogs were originally selected for domestication for such
utilitarian reasons as hunting or herding, but since most
people aren’t sheepherders, service has been replaced by
fashion, he said. “ Dogs become popular through the same
mechanisms that impel, say, wearing baseball caps brim-backward,”
he said. “ A person selecting a pet dog seems to
be highly influenced by choices being made by others at
about the same time, without his or her knowing it. In this
respect, dog breed popularity is no different
than changing tastes in food – remember
fondue pots? –
clothing styles or music. They have
become fads.”
Swings in popularity of certain
breeds can be dramatic, and some-times
can be traced to a specific event,
such as the rise in popularity of Dalmatians after
recent Disney movies, said Herzog, who won
WCU’s Distinguished Scholar Award for his work. “ More
often, however, there is no
apparent single cause of swings in popularity, such as the
booms that occurred in Doberman pinschers, chow chows
and Saint Bernards. The popularity of some breeds can just
take off, much like a social epidemic.”
In their study, Herzog and his colleagues say they have
demonstrated that most shifts in the popularity of dog
breeds in the United States can be attributed to a process
called “ random drift,” in which individuals simply copy the
choices made by others. The result, they say, is that many
breeds become popular just by chance. Similar studies have
linked “ random drift” to other cultural
trends, from popular baby names
to designs on ancient pottery.
So, what are the current
trends in dog breed popular-ity?
In 2003, the most popular
breed in the United States was
the Labrador retriever, followed
by the golden retriever, German shepherd
and beagle. Breeds on the rise include the Havanese, cavalier
King Charles spaniel, Brussels griffon and French bulldog,
while the Dalmatian, chow chow, rottweiler, akita and Pekin-ese
are on the decline.
Others are picking up on the work of Herzog and his col-leagues.
A team of Columbia University researchers studying
popular music tastes, which also pointed to random drift
and the impact of social influences on personal preferences,
recently cited the earlier study as “ ingenious.”
Western students will provide about $ 4.2 million worth
of volunteer work for Western North Carolina communities
this academic year as they participate in co- curricular vol-unteer
activities and course- based service learning projects.
That’s the word from Glenn Bowen, director of Western’s
Service Learning Program.
More than 30 percent of Western students – about
2,460 people – currently participate in volunteer work and
service learning projects, and average three hours of service
each week. “ Using the latest independent sector figures
for the value of volunteer work, which are based on data
from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, each of these students
contributes $ 1,684 in service during the 32- week academic
year,” Bowen said.
Western’s service learning department, part of the
Division of Student Affairs, promotes volunteerism and co-ordinates
traditional community service. An important part
of the department’s work is to collaborate with faculty to
integrate community service into the curriculum. “ Commu-nity
service connected to the curriculum is what we refer to
as service learning,” Bowen said. “ Service learning enriches
coursework by providing opportunities for students to use
their academic knowledge and skills in ‘ real- life’ situations.”
The community partners for Western’s service learn-ing
program include nonprofit organizations, social service
agencies, community- based organizations, local government,
nongovernmental organizations, schools, church- related
groups and service clubs. Since the service learning program
began at Western about five years ago, the number of its
community partners has grown significantly, with a total
now of 83.
As an example, Western’s program is partnering with
the Rotary Club of Sylva, the Interact Club of Smoky Moun-tain
High School and St. David’s Episcopal Church in “ Project
Panama,” an alternative spring break trip to work on school
renovation and health care in rural communities in the Latin
American country.
The services provided through Western’s service learning
program are just one facet of the university’s engagement
with the region’s communities, Bowen said. “ The engaged
campus is unable to separate its unique responsibility for
the development of knowledge from the role of knowledge
in a democratic society to form the basis for social progress
and human equality,” he said. “ That’s why we value and
cherish the partnerships between our campus and the wider
community – partnerships involving various centers and de-partments
of the university with organizations and institu-tions
in the community. These are partnerships designed to
improve the social, cultural and economic life of our commu-nity
and our region.”
Professor Ponders
Pet Popularity
By BILL STUDENC
Western Students
Provide $ 4.2 Million
In Volunteer Work to
Local Communities
By RANDALL HOLCOMBE
Hal Herzog
“ Dogs become popular
through the same mechanisms
that impel wearing
baseball caps brim- backward,”
— Hal Herzog
A Breed Apart
Western student volunteers include ( clockwise from top left) the hundreds
of students who help clean the Tuckaseigee River every year; Jennifer
Nyland, who spends time with nursing home resident Bertha Moss; and
Jennifer Spivey, who lends a hand to Christina Smith ’ 05, executive
director of the Jackson County Community Table.
The Magazine of Western Carolina 16 University SPRING 2006 SPRING 2006 The Magazine of Western Carolina University 17
A Hennon Stadium– record crowd of 2,832 fans, includ-ing
more than 50 former Western athletes representing three
decades of Catamount baseball, rose to its feet when baseball
legend Keith LeClair ’ 89 arrived on the field for an April 11
ceremony marking the retirement of his No. 23 Catamount
jersey – the first jersey to be retired in Catamount baseball
history. Western’s athletics program chose to bestow the honor
on the former WCU player and coach in appreciation of his
contributions to the sport and in recognition of his courageous
battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, more commonly
known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
In front of a capacity crowd that packed the stands and
overflowed into a parking lot behind the centerfield fence,
the current Catamount squad formed a tunnel of baseball bats
through which Lynn LeClair helped her wheelchair- bound
husband enter the playing field. Surrounded by his children,
parents and in- laws, LeClair watched as a large replica of his
gold jersey, painted on the outfield wall affectionately known
as “ the Purple Monster,” was unveiled. The No. 23 also was
emblazoned onto the grass behind home plate. The LeClair
children, Audrey and J. D., threw pre- game first- pitches, and
current WCU head baseball coach Todd Raleigh ’ 91 MAEd
’ 94 presented the family with gifts, including a framed No. 23
jersey. The emotional ceremony took place prior to the Cata-mounts’
annual game against the nationally ranked Clemson
Tigers, coached by former WCU skipper Jack Leggett, who
recruited LeClair, a fellow New Englander.
Leggett commended the university, the athletics depart-ment
and the baseball program for choosing to honor LeClair.
“ It is not easy to make a decision to retire someone’s number.
There are a lot of great players in the past here, but when you
do make that decision to retire someone’s number, you are
making a statement. That statement is simple – that it is diffi-cult
for someone else to fill those shoes and to fill that uniform.
In Keith’s case, that is certainly the truth,” Leggett said.
“ I have had a lot of players in 29 years, and if you put together
Record Crowd Honors Baseball Legend
LeClair at Jersey Retirement Ceremony
By BILL STUDENC and MIKE CAWOOD
an ‘ All- Leggett Team,’ Keith would be my captain. That says
everything that you need to know about Keith LeClair.”
Raleigh, who both played with LeClair at Western and
coached under him at Western Carolina and East Carolina,
reminisced about being a young freshman athlete learning from
the older LeClair, who was then a senior leader on the team.
“ Every time I did something wrong, Coach Leggett would always
say, ‘ You need to do things more like Keith,’” Raleigh said. “ He is
a tremendous coach, but more importantly, he is a tremendous
human being. He has everything that I want all my players to
have. He has everything I want my son to have – courage, integ-rity,
the work ethic, the competitiveness. He’s the ultimate team
player and the ultimate team coach.”
In remarks read to the crowd by family friend Chuck Young,
LeClair thanked his protégé, his mentor and his alma mater for
the special day. “ It’s hard to believe that 22 years ago I arrived
at Western Carolina University. I remember riding in from the
airport with my one big green Army duffle bag, all set to walk on
and make the baseball team. I had only met Coach Leggett once
before, but I figured a guy from Vermont would give a kid from
Walpole, N. H., a fair shake,” LeClair said in his statement.
“ Much has changed between then and now. I pray that in
the years to come, when people see this No. 23, they will not
think of an individual, but of a team of unity,” he said. “ Without
the support of many others, none of this would have been
possible.”
LeClair, who was inducted into the WCU Athletics Hall of
Fame in 2002, came to Western in 1985 and helped lead the
Catamounts to four consecutive conference championships. He
ranks among the top 10 in six different WCU hitting categories.
After his Western playing days, he signed as a free agent with
the Atlanta Braves organization, playing the 1988 season for
Idaho Falls in the Pioneer League. In 1989, after spending spring
training with the San Francisco Giants organization, he returned
to Cullowhee as an assistant coach on Leggett’s Catamount staff,
a position he held for three seasons.
When Leggett left for an assistant head coaching job at
Clemson in 1992, LeClair became WCU’s head coach at age 25,
guiding the Catamounts to regular season and tournament
championships. The team advanced to the NCAA tournament,
reaching the regional championship game and getting to within
one out of advancing to the College World Series. In his six
seasons at Western, he posted a record of 229- 135- 2, led WCU
to four NCAA tournament berths, and was SoCon Coach of the
Year in 1992, 1994 and 1997.
Following his reign at WCU, LeClair continued his coaching
career at East Carolina University. Joining the Pirates in 1997,
he spent five seasons as head coach and tallied an impressive
record of 219- 96- 1. In 2002, LeClair relinquished his coaching
duties due to health concerns related to ALS. Upon his retire-ment
and after compiling a career record of 448- 231- 3 at West-ern
Carolina and East Carolina, he was honored as first recipient
of the Conference USA Student- Athletic Advisory Committee’s
Coaches Choice Award. In addition, the Conference USA Base-ball
Coach of the Year Award was named in his honor.
“ If you have any pride at all, you always want to leave a
program in better shape than you found it. Even though leaving
Western was a tough decision, I knew I was leaving the program
better than when I arrived by knowing Keith would be taking
over the program,” Leggett said during the jersey retirement
ceremony. “ If our team ends up in Omaha ( site of the College
World Series), or Western Carolina ends up in Omaha, or East
Carolina ends up in Omaha sometime, Keith LeClair will be
there with them.”
Coach Raleigh agreed, saying that much of the baseball
Cats’ tradition of success is due to the legacy of LeClair. “ Facili-ties
don’t make the program,” he said. “ The bats don’t make the
program, and the uniforms don’t make the program. The people
make the program. I’ve been a part of this program for nearly
20 years, and I can’t think of anyone more deserving of this
honor than Keith.”
WCUAthletics
Keith LeClair ’ 89 ( above) coached the
winning Catamounts for more than a
decade. Coach Todd Raleigh ’ 91 MAEd
’ 94 ( right) presents the LeClairs with a
baseball signed by the team.
Former Western coach and current Clemson skipper Jack Leggett ( left) shares a moment with Keith LeClair ’ 89.
Wife Lynn and children J. D. and Audrey ( right) accompany LeClair into Hennon Stadium
The Magazine of Western Carolina 18 University SPRING 2006 SPRING 2006 The Magazine of Western Carolina University 19
As the introduction to “ All Western,” the halftime segment
that airs during broadcasts of many WCU sporting events,
points out, in addition to most valuable players on the fields
and courts of competition, the university also boasts MVPs in
the classrooms, laboratories and libraries. And sometimes a
student earns MVP status both athletically and academically.
WCU soccer standout Emily Pierce, a senior biology major, is
one of those students.
Pierce is recipient of the 2006 Southern Conference’s Da-vid
Knight Graduate Scholarship through an academic award
program sponsored by the TIAA- CREF financial services com-pany.
The graduate scholarship is given in honor of the late
Dr. David Knight, longtime faculty athletics representative at
the University of North Carolina– Greensboro, to recognize the
outstanding accomplishments of a selected student- athlete.
In addition to being the Catamounts’ all- time leading
scorer among defenders, Pierce also served as the women’s
soccer field captain. She held a seat on the Student Athletic
Advisory Committee and served as a SoCon representative to
an NCAA student advisory committee, all while maintaining
a 3.85 grade point average. “ Emily is so ‘ head and shoulder’,”
said Tammy DeCesare, head women’s soccer coach. “ Her work
ethic never wavers. She’s always willing to put the soccer pro-gram
and the team ahead of her own agenda. It’s no surprise
that she received the award. She does it all with a smile and
she’ll be tough to replace.”
After graduation, Pierce plans to continue her education
and pursue a career as a physician’s assistant, specializing in
orthopedics. “ I’ve always wanted to go into the medical field,”
she said. “ Through my work experience I narrowed it down to
a physician’s assistant.” Pierce already has more than a casual
familiarity with orthopedics. Last spring, she tore her medial
collateral ligament ( MCL) in her leg, keeping her out of play
for three months.
Pierce also plans to coach soccer and remain competitive
after graduation. “ Being competitive carries over to every-thing,”
she said. “ Sometimes it’s a curse. My friends and I
can’t play board games because we all have to win. On the
other hand, it can be a good thing. When I start looking into
the job market, I’ll have the competitive edge.”
Pierce joins a host of former Catamount student- athletes
who have earned postgraduate scholarships. Last year, Rans
Brempong ’ 04 became the second consecutive winner of the
Mike Wood postgraduate scholarship honoring a men’s bas-ketball
player, following in the footsteps of Emre Atsur ’ 04.
Lady Catamount basketball player Yoneko Allen ’ 04 also was
awarded the Mike Wood scholarship in 2004. Track and field
athlete Tonya Edmonds ’ 05 won a scholarship through the
NCAA’s Ethnic Minority and Women’s Enhancement Post-graduate
Scholarship Program in 2005, and football’s Jason
Whaley ’ 03 won a scholarship from the National Football
Foundation and College Hall of Fame in 2003.
SoCon Awards WCU’s Emily Pierce
with Graduate Scholarship
By GARY TAKACS ’ 06
WCUAthletics WCUAthletics
Emily Pierce battles against a Campbell player.
Taking It All in Stride
First, Bonzi Wells went down with an injury. Then
Sacramento traded Peja Stojakovic. The Kings’ beat writers
and bloggers began to buzz, wondering who would help
veterans Mike Bibby and Brad Miller generate enough
offense for the Kings.
Former Catamount standout Kevin Martin has tried to
provide an answer. The second- year player out of Western
averaged 17.5 points during a nine- game stretch earlier this
season. Although he’s still the third or fourth option on
most of the Kings’ offensive possessions, Martin scored 20
or more points in three consecutive games. At press time,
he was averaging 11.2 points and nearly four rebounds per
game as the Kings mounted a late- season playoff run.
“ It feels great, especially after we win,” Martin said.
“ When you put good numbers up and lose, it doesn’t matter
much. But it feels good when the team’s winning.”
After struggling from the field while playing limited
minutes as a reserve, Martin has found his NBA range. He’s
shooting better than 50 percent from the field as a starter
( 53.3), and he’s raised his overall 3- point percentage to
nearly 40 percent – a team- high.
“ Kevin is coming out aggressive and taking the shots
that are there,” Kings coach Rick Adelman said. “ We see it
every day. Now he’s just transferring it from practice to
the games.”
At one point during the season, when Martin scored
20 points or more, the Kings went 9- 1. While the national
media frequently mention that stat, Martin’s personal coach
downplays its significance. “ Of course you’re going to be win-ning
when your third offensive option is scoring that many
points,” said David Thorpe, who has worked with Martin
since the summer after his freshman year at WCU. “ The key
for Kevin now is to keep knocking down his shots and earn-ing
the trust of his teammates and coaches so that he’ll get
more opportunities.”
Since being drafted 26th overall ( first round) in the
2004 draft, Martin has learned there’s no instant pathway
to NBA stardom. “ There are a lot of layers to it. When you’re
drafted, you’re on top of the world. Then you come into a
veteran world, and you have to work hard and get experi-ence.
Last year, as a rookie, it was tough mentally. I felt like
when I got extended minutes, I showed flashes of what I did
in college,” said Martin, who ranks fourth on WCU’s all- time
scoring list ( 1,838 points) despite leaving after his junior
season.
“ This year, I started out not shooting very well even
though I did have a couple of good games early. Since Bonzi
went down, though, I’ve been pretty consistent. Right now,
they’re relying on me to score. I’m shooting a high percent-age,
and I want to keep getting better.”
Besides helping the Kings become a playoff contender,
Martin has another reason to shine over the coming months.
His agent, Miami- based Jason Levien, said the Kings could
pick up the option on Martin’s fourth season before Oct. 31.
Martin signed a three- year deal worth at least $ 2.43 million
shortly after being drafted. That contract has a one- year arm
that can be exercised at the Kings’ discretion.
“ The bigger issue for me is not for him to continue
playing at this level,” Levien said. “ Some people in the Kings’
organization have told me they feel like he’s an All- Star, so
we’re just hoping this is the tip of the iceberg.”
Reprinted in edited form with permission of the Asheville Citizen- Times
Former­-
Cat Martin
Excelling as Starter
for NBA’s Kings
By TYLER NORRIS GOODE
Former Catamount Kevin Martin looks for the ball as a Sacramento King.
Western Carolina sophomore Matt Cook is the
2006 Southern Conference Men’s Golfer of the
Year, the first Catamount in team history to earn
the honor, after winning the SoCon men’s individual
golf championship in tournament play in April. It
marked only the second time a WCU men’s golfer
has claimed the SoCon men’s crown. “ Being named
Golfer of the Year is a huge statement for Matt and
the program,” Gorham Bradley ’ 04 said. “ The
honor recognizes the best player from both the fall
and spring. Matt played at a high level versus some
of the best competition in the nation. This honor
will open doors for both him and the program.”
The Magazine of Western Carolina 20 University SPRING 2006 SPRING 2006 The Magazine of Western Carolina University 21
WCUAthletics
Bill Stallings ’ 61 may not live far from the farm where
he has born in Johnston County, but he has come a long way.
Stallings, who worked his way through Western selling ice
cream in the summers, went on to found a business valued
at more than $ 180 million when it sold in 1996.
Stallings started Regional Acceptance Corp. in the late
1970s, which raised $ 20 million in its initial public offer-ing
in 1993. The company found a niche making loans to
people who, because of a hardship such as a family illness,
had less- than- perfect credit. “ It takes hard work, doing what
you say you will do, treating employees the way you want to
be treated, and a little bit of luck to go with it,” said Stallings,
who was honored with Western’s most recent Professional
Achievement Award. Today, he is president of the Stallings
Group.
Stallings credits his experience at Western, where he
majored in history, as what helped him “ spread his wings.”
“ I had never been anywhere hardly – not more than 50 miles
away,” Stallings said. “ Running into different people with
different backgrounds just expanded my horizon.”
Stallings’ friends say that, despite succeeding in the
sometimes cutthroat business world, he remains one of the
most tender- hearted and down- to- earth people they know.
“ He’s the same today as when he was just as poor as a church
mouse,” said Bob Barbour, owner of a Honda dealership in
Greenville. “ Once you get to know him, he’s like a brother.”
People do not have to ask him to help, “ Bill just does it,
” Barbour said. Driving around a few years ago, the two
friends came across a woman sitting outside a motel with
four children playing nearby. Stallings stopped and sent
Barbour over with some money to give them. “ The lady just
started crying,” Barbour said. “ She said, ‘ We have been
praying for something.’”
Stallings’ first job out of school was as a collector for
Home Finance Co. in Charlotte. From there, he moved into
a position as an accounts manager with Ford Motor Credit
Corp. and then a branch office manager and loan officer with
Atlantic Discount in Greenville.
In 1977, he took a risk opening a Grady White boat
dealership in Greenville that emerged as the second- largest
in sales and the top Cox Trailer dealer in the country. He
realized personal lending, though, was more profitable and
shifted his focus to that industry.
David C. Darby, president of Darby and Associates, said
he met Stallings about 20 years ago through his business
providing support services and products to the finance
industry. “ Bill treats customers very fair and gave them the
service they were looking for,” Darby said. “ He has done
extremely well in business, and, personally, he is a very com-passionate
individual.”
alumniAchievements
Giving Credit
Where It’s Due
Reliability, Sympathy
Help Catamount Succeed
Bill Stallings ’ 61
Throughout his younger years, the siren song of the gridiron
kept calling the name of Danny Williamson ’ 84 MAEd ’ 86. But
track and field won out at the end, and WCU athletics turned out
the big winner.
A Sylva native who played “ just about every sport” in high
school, Williamson was drawn most strongly to football as a
young athlete. After high school graduation in 1980, he had
his eye on a football career at WCU, but found himself on the
sidelines as a student assistant while he worked on his degree
in physical education. “ It was then that I started thinking more
about being a football coach, instead of a player,” Williamson
said.
“ Around that time, I did my student teaching at Cullowhee
High School, a K- 12 school ( that was housed on WCU’s campus
in the building that now serves as the University Outreach Cen-ter.)
There was no coach for the boy’s high school track team, so
I became the coach.” Williamson, who ran track at Sylva- Webster
High, led the Cullowhee High Rebels to a conference champion-ship.
It turned out to be a sign of things to come.
Upon graduation from WCU in 1984, Williamson began
work on his master’s degree in physical education while serving
as a graduate assistant for the football team. When the university’s
first women’s track and field team was established, Williamson
assisted with that program, and the following year, he coached
the WCU women’s team for free. Then, the men’s coach resigned
and Williamson signed on to coach both the men’s and women’s
teams full- time for the 1987- 88 season for $ 4,000 per year.
“ The pay was part- time, but the work was full- time,”
Williamson said. “ It was around that time that I decided that
I wanted to be a college track and field coach.”
The rest, as the saying goes, is history. During his tenure
( including 21 seasons coaching the women’s program, and 20
seasons guiding the men’s team), Williamson has led Cata-mount
track and field athletes to 12 Southern Conference team
championships, including the men’s indoor championship this
past February. Williamson has witnessed more than 400 of his
athletes receive All- Southern Conference awards and more than
150 athletes be named individual conference event champions.
Williamson’s work has not gone unnoticed by his peers.
Following the men’s recent indoor conference championship,
Williamson was named men’s SoCon Indoor Coach of the Year,
marking the 19th time Williamson has been named conference
track and field coach of the year for either men’s or women’s
teams, indoor or outdoor seasons. Shortly after that honor was
announced, Williamson was named the NCAA Division I South-east
Regional Men’s Indoor Track and Field Coach of the Year,
the third time he has won that accolade.
WCU’s track and field program now includes about 85 ath-letes,
but in terms of athletic grants- in- aid, the program receives
the equivalent of 14.5 in- state scholarships. For the most part,
the WCU track and field athletes are paying their own way – “ for
the love of the sport,” Williamson said.
Although the university does not have an indoor track
and field facility, Williamson said his teams are able to compete
successfully during the indoor track season because Cullowhee’s
relatively mild climate does not often interfere with the team’s
outdoor training. “ Our philosophy is: Just because we don’t have
something doesn’t mean we can’t do this,” he said. “ You’ve got to
get the kids to believe in what you’re doing. If they see good re-sults,
they will work harder. And if they see the coaches working
hard, they latch on to that.”
Paul Jones ’ 69 MA ’ 70 of Forest City has seen a lot of
Catamount track and field action over the years – as co- captain
of WCU’s first track and field team, then as head coach for those
teams from 1967 to 1981 ( winning numerous conference and
district titles), and now as a fan. The former Catamount Club
president, who is a member of the university’s athletics Hall of
Fame, said Williamson is “ not only a great recruiter, but he has
the right demeanor and the personality it takes to coach track
and field teams.”
Danny Williamson Racks Up Coaching Accolades
By RANDALL HOLCOMBE
Danny Williamson ’ 84 MAEd ’ 86
Making Tracks
The Magazine of Western Carolina 22 University SPRING 2006 SPRING 2006 The Magazine of Western Carolina University 23
One man’s reality is another
man’s weekly reality television show
and, for Erick Dickens ’ 96, that
spelled opportunity.
Through his job as associate
brand manager in the Post cereal divi-sion
at Kraft Foods, Dickens was put
in charge of successfully launching
the new line of Grape Nuts Trail Mix
Crunch to the public. What better way
to make a big splash than enlisting
the help of contestants on the fifth
season of NBC’s “ The Apprentice,”
under the watchful eye of none other
than Donald Trump? As the reality
show contestants plotted how to
advertise the cereal as part of their
challenge, the reality show, in reality,
would advertise the product to the
viewing audience.
“ In order to successfully launch
the cereal according to the strategy,
the show had to feature it,” Dickens
said. “ The contestants’ job was to
come up with billboard advertise-ments
for the product.” And that’s
precisely what happened, as week four
of the current season of the popular
TV program centered on the quest
for the perfect billboard campaign. Using his knowledge and
experience of product placement, Dickens integrated the new
cereal into the show. “ The show made the product a character,
and the contestants created tasks that surrounded that char-acter,”
he said.
During a four- month process of researching, planning
and maintaining the secrecy of the product, Dickens would
need to find a way convince a younger generation to eat a
100- year- old cereal brand that’s mostly popular among people
55 and older. He also saw how other product sales performed
after similar introductions. “ This type of marketing works
best for newer products,” he said. “ If you’re featured on a
show like this, you’d better be ready to produce.”
Dickens, who recently moved to the Dial Corp. as associ-ate
brand manager, was in charge of executing the entire proj-ect.
He worked closely with AIM Productions, which served
as the liaison between Kraft Foods and Burnett Productions,
the company that brings “ The Apprentice” and CBS’s “ Sur-vivor”
to the screen. The unusual promotional strategy was
Dickens’ idea, and it marked Kraft’s first time attempting to
introduce a new product in such a splashy fashion.
During his time at Western,
Dickens demonstrated a type of busi-ness
potential that would please even
a boss like Donald Trump. He gradu-ated
summa cum laude ( with highest
honors) and was the recipient of the
Outstanding Business Management
Student Award that same year. “ He was
such an upstanding and hard- work-ing
individual,” said Terry Kinnear,
associate professor of management at
Western. “ He’s one of those people
that you never forget, espe-cially
because he
was so
darn
good!
He’s a
true pro-fessional.”
After
his studies
at Western,
Dickens
served in the
U. S. Army
for eight years
as a pilot. He
flew Blackhawk
helicopters and
reconnaissance
aircraft while
serving as a company commander. “ It’s essentially running a
business within a business,” he said. After leaving the armed
forces, Dickens moved into the corporate environment of
Kraft Foods, a Fortune 500 company.
His experiences have influenced students to follow in
his footsteps, including his younger brother, Brian, a se-nior
computer information systems major at Western. “ My
brother is the reason why I chose to attend WCU,” the younger
Dickens said. “ I’ve always admired his accomplishments, and
I am very proud of him. Between his business degree from
Western and his officer training from the Army, he’s one of
the best employees a company can ask for.”
Although Dickens has now rubbed elbows with “ the Don-ald,”
he says it all has to start somewhere. “ You can do really
great things after Western,” he said. “ But you have to do great
things at Western.”
That’s one way to avoid hearing that dreaded phrase:
“ You’re fired.”
Alum Hires Donald Trump to do His Dirty Work
By GARY TAKACS ’ 06
alumniAchievements
A historian who rummaged through Appalachian Mountain
artifacts and archives as an undergraduate student at Western
Carolina University has been tapped to lead the museum
where he once toiled as an intern. Scott Philyaw ’ 83, WCU
associate professor of history, is the new director of the
Mountain Heritage Center, the university’s regional museum
that studies, documents and interprets the culture and history
of Southern Appalachia.
“ We have searched far and wide for the right person to move
our Mountain Heritage Center forward, and we are delighted
that someone who grew up in these very mountains is coming
on board to ensure that the fine work of this important cultural
resource continues,” Clifton Metcalf, vice chancellor for advance-ment
and external affairs, said in announcing the appointment.
“ Dr. Philyaw is no stranger to the Mountain Heritage Center
and, in fact, played a key role in developing the center’s inaugural
exhibit when he was an undergraduate student at WCU.”
Philyaw, who earned his bachelor’s degree in history from
WCU in 1983, traveled to Northern Ireland during his senior
year to conduct research and arrange for loans of artifacts for the
center’s inaugural exhibition on the migration of the Scotch- Irish
people. That display, which chronicles the arrival of settlers from
Scotland and Ireland in the mountains of Western North Caro-lina,
has evolved to become the museum’s permanent exhibit.
For Philyaw, who was born in Lenoir and grew up in Mor-ganton,
the lure of the history of the mountains goes further
back than his undergraduate days. “ My interest in the history of
this region began when I used to beg my grandmother for stories
about her youth in northern Jackson County,” he said. “ She told
me stories of her father, John Hipps, who worked in the timber
business, of her Cherokee neighbors and of Saturday shopping
trips to Sylva.”
After graduating from WCU, Philyaw went on to earn his
master’s degree in history from the College of William and
Mary and his doctorate in history from the University of North
Carolina– Chapel Hill. While at William and Mary, he worked
at Colonial Williamsburg and at an archaeological site at
Yorktown Battlefield. At UNC, he worked with the Southern
Historical Collection.
A member of WCU’s history faculty since 1996, Philyaw has
assisted the Mountain Heritage Center with several exhibits.
He has served as scholar- in- residence at Old Salem’s Museum
of Early Southern Decorative Arts and as an exhibit consultant
with The Orchard at Altapass in McDowell County. Working with
WCU students, he co- authored two pamphlets for the Blue Ridge
Parkway, including “ The Natural Diversity of Linville Falls,” which
won the 2002 Excellence in Interpretation Award for Trail Guides
from the National Park Service Cooperating Association.
Although he’ll be directing a museum that focuses on tradi-tions
of the past, Philyaw has plans to take its activities into the
future. “ The Mountain Heritage Center already has a successful
record, and one of my goals for the center is to build on its suc-cessful
outreach efforts by doing more community programming
and educational programs for the public schools, from kindergar-ten
through the 12th grade,” he said. “ I also wish to continue the
outreach work the center has done with other regional museums
and historic societies.”
Former History Student Intern Returns
To Lead WCU’s Mountain Heritage Center
By Bil Studenc
Scott Philyaw ’ 83
Mountain Heritage Center hours: 8 a. m.– 5 p. m. Monday– Friday; and 2– 5 p. m. Sunday, June– October.
( 828) 227- 7129 or www. wcu. edu/ mhc
alumniAchievements
“ Migration of the Scotch- Irish People.”
Permanent exhibition.
“ Grandma’s Attic.” Through June 2006.
“ After the War: Conflict and Domestic Change in the
North Carolina Mountains.” Through May 2007.
“ People of the Land.” Through June 2006.
Mountain Heritage Center
Erick Dickens ’ 96 and Donald Trump
The Magazine of Western Carolina 24 University SPRING 2006 SPRING 2006 The Magazine of Western Carolina University 25
The latest assignment sends Army Lt. Col.
John T. “ Tim” Ryan ’ 85 off to work in a tank
at the Pentagon – a think tank. Ryan, who is
assigned to the Army’s chief of plans and
operations, fires off ideas as he explores
strategic analysis and information. Part of his
job involves speech- writing, “ which is a bit
odd for a guy with an undergraduate degree in
industrial arts education,” he said.
But it was his writing that captured
attention from around the world last year. Ryan
was serving in Iraq when the way reporters were
covering the war got to him. He wrote to his
family and friends about it, and his words
became an essay. “ Print and video journalists
are covering only a fraction of the events in
Iraq,” he wrote, “ and, more often than not, the
events they cover are only negative.”
His statements were picked up by the World Tribune.
From there, Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage both read the
essay on their radio shows, and Ryan was interviewed by NBC,
Fox News, Time magazine and others. His assignment at the
Pentagon follows more than 20 years of service and earning a
master’s degree in military arts and
sciences from the School of Advanced
Military Studies in Fort Leavenworth,
Kan. Even before that, he was a
member of the N. C. Army National
Guard and a leader in ROTC when he
was a WCU student.
“ If I had to point to a couple of
attributes that have helped me to be
successful over the last 20 years since
graduation, I’d say a strong work ethic and
people skills have to be at the top of the
list,” Ryan said. “ Growing up in a rural
environment where folks are friendly,
work hard together and share the bounty
with neighbors and strangers alike has
helped me to get along with just about
anybody and make a positive impression
through hard work.”
Ryan pointed out that three of the U. S. Army’s 30 tank
battalions at one point had Western graduates at the helm.
“ There must be something in the water there in Cullowhee,”
he said light- heartedly.
Talents Take Industrial Arts Major to the Pentagon
Amanda Farris ’ 97 took her political science degree
from Western and a passion for politics all the way to Capitol
Hill, where she serves as lead staff for the House Republican
Conference on such issues as implementation of the No
Child Left Behind Act.
“ She’s up there where the action is taking place,” said
Don Livingston, professor of political science. “ She is helping
make very important decisions with far- reaching implications.
Amanda is a go- getter, no doubt about it.”
Farris works with a range of issues including education
reform, educational testing, literacy, education technology and
teacher quality. “ There is truly no typical day in my job,” she
said. Farris gives speeches, talks to interested parties about
policy, drafts legislation, gathers information about policies,
and selects witnesses for congressional hearings. Her mission
is translating the ideas of members of Congress into practice.
“ Sometimes this is easy because everyone can agree that a
problem has been identified and that it can be solved in a par-ticular
way,” Farris said. “ Other times, it is much more difficult.”
She had previously worked as professional staff in the U. S.
Senate and as a correspondent for U. S. Sen. Michael B. Enzi,
who represents Farris’ home state of Wyoming. Farris staffed
a subcommittee on education, welfare, childcare, arts, humani-ties,
national service, faith- based and human resources issues.
“ I always wanted to work in politics,” said Farris, who traces her
involvement in political organizations to high school.
Though born and raised in Laramie, Wyo., Farris said she
chose to study at Western where a friend of her family, Benny
Dees, was the basketball coach and a good friend, his daughter,
was a student. The university’s political science program and
Poli Sci Grad Builds Career on Capitol Hill
instructors such as Livingston helped prepare her for the work
she does now. “ Dr. Livingston is so passionate about politics
and political science that it was infectious,” Farris said. “ He
constantly made me want to learn and understand more about
the political process.”
While completing a degree at Western, she interned on
Sen. Bob Dole’s 1996 presidential campaign and in the office
of Republican Congresswoman Barbara Cubin of Wyoming,
solidifying her interest in political work and staying in Wash-ington,
D. C. Farris got established in the capital working with
a media consulting firm that made political commercials and
then landed a job on Enzi’s staff. Farris said she really enjoys her
work but has an interest, too, in state- level politics, advocacy
work for increased early childhood literacy and getting her
master’s degree.
Lt. Col. John T. “ Tim” Ryan ’ 85
Amanda Farris ’ 97
Western alumni aren’t the only Catamounts making their
marks in Washington, D. C., as several WCU students spent much
of the spring semester inside the beltway, gaining valuable hands-on
experience in their fields of study through the University of
North Carolina Washington Internship Program.
“ This is an extraordinary opportunity for students,” said
Niall Michelsen, head of WCU’s department of political science
and public affairs. “ This gives students the chance to experience
the political world both nationally and internationally. It exposes
them to the ‘ nitty gritty’ of political advocacy and policy making.”
Rebecca Gardner of Sanford, a senior majoring in English
with a minor in political science, is doing an internship at
C- SPAN’s “ BookTV.” Margaret McCollum of Oakboro, a senior
majoring in social science and history, worked at the Hudson
Institute, a policy research organization. Senior political science
and Spanish major Maria Segovia Sims of Whittier interned at
the Center for American Progress, a research and educational
institution. And Franklin resident Courtney Swartwout, a senior
majoring in communications and political science, worked with
the Washington office of N. C. Gov. Mike Easley.
They follow in the footsteps of recent WCU interns Sam
Hyde, a senior political science major from Statesville who worked
in the office of U. S. Rep. Bob Etheridge; Mike Blackmon ’ 05, a
political science graduate from Southern Pines who interned at
Cardinal Bank; Winston- Salem resident Jessica Jarrard, a se-nior
political science major who completed her internship with
Women Work; history and political science major Lisa Cameron
of Stanfield, who interned at the Woodrow Wilson House; Raleigh
resident Annie Decker, a junior political science major who worked
at NASA; and Rachel Hunnicutt of Canton, a senior communica-tions
major who did an internship in the office of U. S. Rep.
Charles Taylor.
WCU is among 14
of the 16 UNC cam-puses
that participate
in the program. During
their internship in
Washington, students
earn up to 12 credit
hours toward their
degree. The Washington
Internship Program
is open to juniors and
seniors of every major
in the UNC system.
Internship Program Places Students in Washington Capital Cats
Sam Hyde, Jessica Jarrard and Mike Blackmon ’ 05 ( left to right)
completed internships in Washington, D. C., as students from Western.
Student Margaret McCollum meets Gen. Peter Pace,
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
alumniAchievements
The Magazine of Western Carolina 26 University SPRING 2006 SPRING 2006 The Magazine of Western Carolina University 27
John “ Duck” Mosbey ’ 69 looked out at each new
graduating class of the Jordan International Police Train-ing
Center knowing many would not live through the year.
Many would not survive three months, and that was the
toughest part of his job directing training efforts there. “ Our
graduates were returning to the most dangerous police job
on the planet,” said Mosbey, who retired earlier this year and
returned to his Georgia hometown. “ Many, many had already
been killed or wounded in the line of duty.”
But he and about 400 instructors from 15 countries
stayed focused on the mission: Build a foundation for a po-lice
service in Iraq based on service to all citizens. They knew
their graduates’ jobs would be hard, protecting citizens from
terrorists in the battleground- like dry, dusty country where
temperatures climb higher than 115 degrees on summer
afternoons. “ All of us that have been involved in this effort
are waiting and watching with great concern to see if the
new government in Iraq can continue the momentum and
direction that has been established in these past two years
at the center,” Mosbey said.
Bernard J. Dougherty, WCU assistant professor of
criminal justice and former federal anti- terrorism agent, said
policemen and those who train them are targets for insur-gents
trying to keep the new government from succeeding.
“ Training new policemen has challenges on many levels, both
personal and professional, and the danger is both personal
and professional,” Dougherty said.
Mosbey has seen danger. During his 34 years of military
service, he logged more than 2,000 hours as a weapons sys-tems
officer and instructor in the Phantom fighter aircraft.
“ There was no room for error,” Mosbey said. He began his
military career as an enlisted soldier in the Army, later joined
the Air National Guard and ultimately rose to the rank of
colonel in the Air Force. His military service included an
assignment to the joint staff at the Pentagon as a lieutenant
colonel in the Counternarcoctics Operations Division. He
has helped police in the U. S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico
with anti- smuggling strategies, worked on the crisis action
team during Desert Shield/ Desert Storm and served as chief
of all National Guard counterdrug operations, domestically
and in Central and South America. He was executive director
for the Center for Homeland Defense and Security at the
Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., when asked to
go to Iraq in 2004 to advise police service rebuilding efforts.
He later moved to the Jordan police training center.
“ Every job I’ve had since graduating from Western has
been challenging and rewarding – and I feel like Western did
a great job of preparing me for life ‘ in the real world,’” Mos-bey
said. A “ deviant behavior” sociology class convinced him
to explore law enforcement, and his professors and coaches
taught him to push himself and never give up, he said. What
brought him to Western as a transfer student was partly a
desire to play football, though he had to forgo his senior year
when he received his draft notice. “ I had to get a deferred en-listment
just to be able to go to summer school and graduate
in August of 1969,” Mosbey said. He now holds additional
degrees in criminal justice from the University of Alabama
in Birmingham and a master’s degree in national security
and strategic studies from the Naval War College, but he has
never forgotten Western. “ I loved my time in Cullowhee, and
it’s been a life- long ambition to get back there for more than
just a ballgame here and there.”
Alum Trains Iraqi Police
By Teresa Kilian
The Class Notes section features news about personal or professional
accomplishments of Western alumni. Alumni are listed in the year in
which they earned their first degree at Western. City and county names
not otherwise identified are in North Carolina.
• classNOTES•
1952
Lt. Col. Robert Clifford
Brown MAEd, the first person
to receive a diploma for a
graduate degree at Western,
died Jan. 25 at the age of 88.
At commencement in 1952,
Western Carolina Teachers
College awarded 22 people
the institution’s first master’s
degrees in education, and Brown
was the first in the alphabetically
arranged line to be given his
diploma. His career in education
included nearly 40 years of
teaching physics, chemistry and
biology with Asheville City and
Buncombe County schools. He
also taught in Charlotte and
Largo, Fla. Fifty years after Brown
earned his master’s degree,
Western welcomed him back
to campus for commencement
as his daughter, Linda Brown
Adams MPA ’ 02, received a
master’s degree.
1955
President Emeritus of Asheville-
Buncombe Technical Community
College, Harvey L. Haynes
MA ’ 64 ( above) recently was
elected chairman of the board
of trustees of the college.
Western’s nursing program in
Asheville is located on the Enka
campus of A- B Tech in a building
named in honor of Haynes.
1968
At the Cattle Industry Annual
Convention in February,
Waynesville cattleman
John Queen was elected
president- elect of the National
Cattlemen’s Beef Association,
the largest organization
representing America’s cattle
industry. Queen is president and
owner of John Queen Farms, a
third- generation cattle operation
founded in 1917. Commenting
on his election, he said, “ I am so
proud of what NCBA and its
affiliates and councils have done
for producers over the years,
particularly last year to support
producers hit hard by the
hurricanes. That’s what NCBA
is about for me: producers
helping producers.” Queen also
owns and operates Southeast
Livestock Exchange, a video-telemarketing
service covering
the southeast region. He is
a past president of the N. C.
Cattlemen’s Association and is
a member and director of the
Haywood County Cattlemen’s
Association.
1973
Principal at Oak Hill Year- Round
Elementary School in High
Point for six years, Bill Hoke
has been with Guilford County
Schools for 16 years. He also
has taught at Oak Ridge Military
Academy and Randolph County
Schools.
1974
The board of directors of Pard-ee
Hospital in Hendersonville
recently elected as its chair for
2006 Marcia Caserio MAEd
’ 76, ( above) Regional Direc-tor
of Education Outreach for
Western Carolina University.
A member of the board since
2000, she previously served as
vice chair of the hospital board
and chair of the board for West-ern
Carolina Medical Associates,
an affiliate of Pardee.
1976
The North Carolina Nurses
Association has named Carol
Durham ( above) the 2005
NCNA Educator of the Year. For
17 years, she has been director
of the Clinical Education and
Resource Center and a clinical
associate professor at UNC–
Chapel Hill School of Nursing. In
her letter of support, the dean
of the School of Nursing said,
“ Carol is first of all a brilliant and
beloved teacher. She continually
updates her content and
pedagogical strategies, which
has kept the school as a leading
innovator in clinical education
for the past 17 years. She is
single- handedly responsible for
recruiting more future nursing
faculty than anyone else at the
school.… She is a role model
to students, faculty and other
administrators and someone I
would always want to have on
my team.” When she accepted
the award, Durham said, “ One
of my greatest desires in life
has always been to make a
difference in the lives of those
around me. As a nurse educator,
I have been given the privilege
to do just that.… Helping
people, whether a student or
patient, to be all they can be, is
one of the highest callings.”
1979
Previously a commercial banker,
in February Kyle Garrou
( above) was promoted to
community banker by SunTrust
Bank in Lenoir, where he has
alumniAchievements
John “ Duck” Mosbey ’ 69 directed training for a new Iraqi police force
focused on service to citizens.
The Magazine of Western Carolina 28 University SPRING 2006 SPRING 2006 The Magazine of Western Carolina University 29
Stylin’ Success
Van D. Stamey ’ 85 used to earn up to $ 30 a week filling
bottles of salon products after school at his family’s business
in Kannapolis. “ I thought I was making a lot of money, and
I was, considering I was a 12- year- old in 1973,” Stamey said.
“ We only had one tank and no filling machines, so we liter-ally
filled bottles right out of the tank by cracking the valve
and allowing gravity to let the product run into the bottles.”
Gravity wasn’t always so friendly, though. A high school- age
Stamey neglected to secure a tank’s valve one day and 300
gallons of conditioner spilled onto the floor.
He was determined to stay all night to make things
right. That determination continues to grow the success
of the business today. Stamey, CEO of ThermaFuse, said
the company has grown to nearly 50 employees working
at the production facility and another two dozen who visit
and work with 1,500 salons nationwide. The company has
earned industry recognition, too, with recent nominations
for “ ABBIES,” which are awards from America’s Best Beauty
Industry Efforts for Salons that some consider the Oscars of
the beauty industry.
Upon graduating from Western, Stamey went to work
full- time at the business that his father started after return-ing
home to Kannapolis after the Korean War. His dad was
intent on not going to work at the cotton mill. Instead, he
went to barber school, launched his own salon and, in 1967,
won the National Hairstylist of the Year award. Frustration
with manufacturers of personal care products for salons
inspired him to take a new direction and make his own
products.
Today, ThermaFuse continues to cater to salon
and spa owners, declining to sell to large chains or
“ big box stores” in order to be sensitive what
independent salon owners need. They also
have improved the quality of their prod-uct
with help from technical director
Mark Ragan ’ 85, a chemistry gradu-ate
from Western. Ragan helped de-velop
formulas for new products that
use a combination of a wheat protein
molecule and a molecule from a type
of silicone. “ Mark combined this
technology with other cutting- edge
chemistry to create HeatSmart
Complex,” Stamey said. “ HeatSmart
Complex protects and repairs heat-styled
hair and it works better at
an elevated temperature like one
would get from a blow dryer, curl-ing
iron, or flat iron. It is the first
ingredient in all our formulas.”
The products are top- notch, says Sandy Powell, owner of
It’s All About You at North Chase in Wilmington, but what
really makes the company stand out to her is its service.
When she bought a starter color kit, ThermaFuse offered
free training whether two employees or 10 could attend.
The company hosts regular events in which customers can
tour the facility, visit their homes and participate in training
or discussion forums. Powell said she brought up a frustra-tion
with the packing material – peanuts. Today, her bottles
come packed in air pillows. When salon owners asked for a
wax styling pomade, ThermaFuse formulated one that fit
the product line. Powell said she has never had that type of
service before. “ You know how they do business,” she said.
“ You meet their parents, children and spouses. You see their
home on Lake Norman. I am not just a number. They know
me by name. They know my family. They know my business.
If they are successful, they deserve to be.”
Alums Leave WCU Well- Conditioned for Business
By Teresa Kilian
Western’s nursing alumnae, including some
who graduated more than 30 years ago, are
turning their attention back to the campus and
asking an important question: “ What can we do
to help?”
Aware that talented students and well- quali-fied
practitioners are needed to meet a growing
national shortage of nurses, these experienced
professionals have just launched a new Nursing
Alumni Association to raise money for scholar-ships
and equipment and to create a supportive
network for recent graduates.
Diane Gupton Oakley ’ 73, a member
of Western’s first nursing class, was elected
president at the newly formed association’s
meeting in March. Oakley said the organiza-tion
is especially interested in welcoming recent
nursing graduates to future meetings so they
can exchange ideas and information with alumni
who have been in the profession for years. “ The
time is right,” she said. “ Together, we can help to
strengthen Western’s nursing program.”
Sue Lynn Ledford ’ 79, elected
vice president of the association,
said, “ We need to encourage
students to enroll in the nursing
program and give them someone
who is behind them with encour-agement
so they will get a good
start and stay in the profession.”
Ledford, who says she has worked
the full range of nursing assign-ments,
added, “ When students
see that you’ve been there and
done that and you understand
what it feels like to experience
some of the challenges they are
facing, they know you’re someone
who can understand what they’re
going through. Leaders in the field who can offer
advice or expertise can make a difference.”
Rebecca Warren ’ 89, who will serve as
the association’s secretary/ treasurer, agrees.
Dropped suddenly into a supervisory position
in her first job, Warren said, “ It would have been
great to have someone to call for advice.” Now,
with 17 years of experience in hospital and home
health settings, she’s pleased that she and other
alumnae will have an opportunity to help new
nurses.
Also elected to the executive committee
were Susan Kresmeyer ’ 90, alumni/ volunteer
coordinator; and Mabel Carlyle ’ 73, bylaws.
Judy Mallory served as faculty liaison as the new
group was forming, and Sharon Metcalfe has now
assumed that role for the association.
Want to join? Contact Metcalfe at Metcalfe@
email. wcu. edu or call ( 828) 670- 8810. Updates
on the organization’s progress and programs will
be available on the Alumni Affairs Web page at
http:// alumni. wcu. edu/.
Nursing Grads Looking for Ways to Help
worked since 1993. He also
is director of the Education
Foundation of Caldwell County
and secretary of Region E
Development Council. He and
wife Terri live in Lenoir with sons
Elliott and Jacob.
1980
In February, Don Hunt was
named assistant vice president for
nursing at Baxter Regional Medical
Center in Mountain Home, Ark.
Employed at Baxter Regional for
the past 20 years, he has worked
as clinical coordinator, nurse leader
and wellness program coordinator
and has experience in the medical
surgical unit, critical care unit,
intensive care unit, emergency
department, surgery and post-anesthesia
care unit.
1984
Associate professor in the
emergency medical care program
at Eastern Kentucky University,
Sandy Hunter received
his doctorate in educational
psychology from the University of
Kentucky in December. His areas
of research focused on diversity,
career choices and self- efficacy.
1987
In October, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush
appointed as county judge Edwin
Jagger, a member of the St.
Petersburg law firm of Battaglia,
Ross, Dicus and Wein since
graduating from Stetson University
Law School in 1991. He lives in
Seminole with wife Melissa and
son Jacob.
1988
After spending 15 years in
the textile industry as a sales
representative for SI Corporation
in South Carolina, Tennessee and
Georgia, Audrey Arrington
• classNOTES•
Sanders has returned to her
native Western North Carolina. A
technical sales support engineer
for Eaton Electrical at the
company’s Avery Creek facility
in Arden, she recently moved to
Waynesville with husband Gary,
who works as a building inspector
for Henderson County, and
daughters Rachel, 11, and Katie, 7.
1993
Jean Ellen Sutton Snipes
MAEd is serving her fifth year as
principal of the LEAP Academy
with Burke County Schools.
Referred from the five middle
schools in the county, students at
the academy complete two years
( eighth and ninth grades) of study
during one year and then enter
high school as sophomores.
1994
At the North Carolina
Conference for Excellence in
December, plant manager Scott
Fullbright was honored because
his plant, Rockwell Automation
in Marion, was recognized by
Industry Week as one of the 10
best plants in North America for
2004. Bill Payne MBA ’ 00, an
existing industry specialist with the
N. C. Department of Commerce,
presented Fullbright with a N. C.
state flag in the name of Gov. Mike
Easley and Commerce Secretary
James Fain III. In his comments,
Payne said, “ Rockwell Automation’s
Marion facility is a leader because
it uses state- of- the- art tools, and
its employees are cross- trained
to perform at least three jobs.…
It benchmarks itself against the
top companies in the world. It
provides its employees with the
tools and training to get their jobs
done and get them done right.
Rockwell Automation is the kind
of company that North Carolina
strives to recruit, retain and help
grow.”
1997
Son Talmadge Garrett Kanistras
was born to Autumn Nelson
and Todd Kanistras ’ 95 in
September.
1998
J. Michelle Gurley accepted
a faculty position as clinical
instructor in the department of
communicative disorders at East
Tennessee State University. She
lives in Elizabethton and says the
new job is going very well.
• classNOTES•
Van Stamey ’ 85
has led the development of a
new line of ThermaFuse hair products
for salons and spas.
Members of Western’s first nursing class gather for a group photograph.
The Magazine of Western Carolina 30 University SPRING 2006 SPRING 2006 The Magazine of Western Carolina University 31
Our Fathers,” a story about
the Ottawa Chief Pontiac’s war
against English expansion at the
end of the French and Indian
War; and “ The Golden Harp,” a
tale of Napoleon’s Irish Legion.
He also is co- editor of “ The
Pisgah Review,” publisher for
Broadsides Press, and owner of
Tall Ships Books online bookstore,
the largest distributor of nautical
fiction in the world. Last May,
Global Talk Radio interviewed him
about his publishing company and
the publication of “ The Broken
Sword.”
2003
A resident of Franklin, Shaun
Moss ( above) publishes
Expressions magazine and says
it is “ a great way to stay in touch
with your mountain experiences”
( www. expressionsmag. com). He is
married to Nalann Suon.
2005
Motivated to join the Peace Corps
by her desire to “ help others and
the desire to become an advocate
for developing countries,” Clare
Sabo left in March for Senegal,
West Africa. A significant part of
her service will include initiating
and developing a process aimed
at empowering urban and peri-urban
farmers to use appropriate
technologies to increase
agricultural production.
As the academic qualifications of students at Western
continue to rise, so does the need for scholarships.
Last year, gifts to The Loyalty Fund provided more than 200 academic scholarships.
Y our gift will enable us to attract and retain today’s scholars and tomorrow’s leaders.
You can help change a life.
Cody Wingler Hiddenite, N. C.
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2001
Now in her third year as a
student at The Juilliard School of
the Arts in New York City, Bobbi
“ Tokii” Baker ( above) has had
roles in numerous productions at
the school. She portrayed Ruth
in “ A Raisin in the Sun,” Agnes
in “ A Bright Room Called Day”
and Madam Glafira Glumova
in “ Diary of a Scoundrel.” In
addition, she originated several
roles for Juilliard playwrights.
Baker’s upcoming roles include
Thaisa in Shakespeare’s “ Pericles”
and a feature in four selections in
the Juilliard Annual Cabaret.
Employed by Sam Underwood,
CPA, in Waynesville, Lindsey
Metcalf MAc ’ 02 married
Charles Dills Jr. last October.
In December, Deborah Neal
( above) was promoted to
financial services manager at First
Citizens Bank in Fletcher.
2002
Charles White MA ’ 04
recently celebrated the
publication of “ The Broken
Sword,” his second historical
novel. Like his first book, “ The
Loyalist’s Son,” this one is
set during the Revolutionary
War. The sequel to “ The
Broken Sword” is scheduled
for publication in 2006
under the title “ Men of War.”
White, a visiting instructor in
Western’s English department,
also is researching two other
historical novels: “ Ghosts of
• classNOTES• • classNOTES•
When he grad-uated
from high
school in 1937,
Edwin Young ’ 41,
a native of Franklin,
initially planned
to study forestry
in Georgia, but he
didn’t have enough
money for out-of-
state tuition.
Instead, Young
reluctantly entered
what was then
Western Carolina Teachers College and lived with
his sister who was studying to become a teacher.
To his surprise, Young says, “ I fell in love
with Cullowhee and the college.” He left briefly
during his junior year to fly with the Air Corps in
Texas. When that didn’t work out, he returned
to WCTC and graduated in the summer of
1941 with a major in science and a minor in
physical education.
Although jobs were scarce, he found work in
Toccoa, Ga., earning $ 100 a month as a coach and
science teacher. He remembers that the students
came to school for half the day during the sum-mer
and then went home to pick cotton. In the
fall, Young contacted his colleagues at nearby
schools to organize athletic competition. He got
seven replies, and his football team won four of
its first seven games. Next, he was persuaded to
coach the girls’ basketball team, and that squad,
too, enjoyed a winning season.
Then came Pearl Harbor. Young was recalled
to the military, joined the Air Force, earned his
commission as a second lieutenant and served
as a bombardier, flying
35 missions in North
Africa. After that, he
was sent as a trainer to
New Mexico, where he
met the woman who
became his wife of 62
years, Hazel Thomas.
In early 1946, they
moved with their son
to her home state of
Texas. Young got a job
as an insurance sales-man
and stayed in the
business until he retired in 1982.
Young returned to Western just once, in
1992, when he came back for the 50th reunion
of the Class of 1942. “ They had just built the
Alumni Tower,” he remembers. “ The campus had
changed so much I hardly knew the place – differ-ent
roads, different buildings.” But he liked what
he saw then, and he still is pleased with what’s
going on.
“ It’s on the right track. No doubt about
that,” Young says. “ I get the newsletters and read
what’s going on. I didn’t come into town on a
load of turnips – I can see that it’s going up, up,
up.” His desire to support that progress prompted
him to join the Catamount Club, Young says.
“ They needed funds. I hadn’t been able to send
any for a good long while. Now that I’m able, I
wanted to support the university.”
To others in a similar situation, he makes
this appeal: “ If you went to school there, think
about your school days and what it meant for you
to go to Western and what it can be in the future.
Let your heart dictate what you can do.”
1941 Graduate Joins Catamount Club
By LEILA TVEDT
Edwin Young ’ 41
Hundreds of kids call Anthony James ’ 84 “ Coach A. J.”
at practice most weekdays. James opened the door of track
and field to them through what originated as a track and
field club for Charlotte inner city youth, and over the past
decade, 42 became national champions in events ranging
from the long jump to the 800- meter run. “ But more impor-tant,”
James says, “ is that most became productive
citizens.” Between 1992 and 2004, 124 of the kids
he has worked with through Charlotte Flight Track
and Field Club have gone to college on athletic or
academic scholarships.
As athletic coordinator for Mecklenburg
County Park and Recreation Department, James
is responsible for working with the Police Athletic
League and overseeing county activities at the
track at Johnson C. Smith University. But he also
co- founded Charlotte Flight Track and Field Club,
and last year won an award for volunteer service
from the National Association of County Parks and
Recreation Officials.
At Western, James was a long jump and
triple jump champion. He also starred as tailback
for the football team and has been inducted into
the school’s athletic hall of fame. He is a certified
Track and Field Coach, and says track and field
gives many kids a chance to see a life they never
knew about. “ What we teach them isn’t just athletics,” said
James, of the organization started in 1991. “ We tutor them
for school, teach them about taking the SAT test, tell them to
eat healthy foods and take them to see college campuses.”
Reprinted in edited form from Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation
“ Coach A. J.” Helps Inner City Kids Find Direction
Anthony James ’ 84 coaches track and field programs that benefit Charlotte youth.
32 The Magazine of Western Carolina University SPRING 2006 SPRING 2006 The Magazine of Western Carolina University 33
Sunday , June 18– Friday , June 23
Mountain Dulcimer Week— the country’s top performers and educators
share their experience and skill. Evening concerts Monday, Tuesday and
Wednesday. ( 828) 227- 7397 or http:// edoutreach. wcu. edu
Sunday , June 18
Sunday Sizzlin’ Summer Shorts Series—“ War Bonds: The Songs and
Letters of World War II ( Musical Cabaret)” 3 p. m. Fine and Performing
Arts Center. ( 828) 227- 2479 or http:// fapac. wcu. edu/ Performances. html
July
Sunday , July 2
Sunday Sizzlin’ Summer Shorts Series—“ Hal Holbrook in Mark Twain
Tonight!” 3 p. m. Fine and Performing Arts Center. ( 828) 227- 2479
or http:// fapac. wcu. edu/ Performances. html
Sunday , July 16– Thursday , July 20
Pride of the Mountains Marching Band Summer Symposium.
( 828) 227- 7608 or www. wcu. edu/ prideofthemountains
Wednesday , July 19–
Saturday , July 22
The Cullowhee Conference: Native Plants in the Landscape— increase
interest in and knowledge of propagating and preserving native
Southeastern plant species in the landscape. ( 828) 227- 7397
or http:// edoutreach. wcu. edu
Sunday , July 30
Sunday Sizzlin’ Summer Shorts Series—“ Laughing with the Legends:
Music, Memories, and Merriment from the Fabulous 50s!” 3 p. m.
Fine and Performing Arts Center. ( 828) 227- 2479
or http:// fapac. wcu. edu/ Performances. html
August
Friday , August 4
Summer Commencement. 7 p. m. Ramsey Regional Activity Center.
( 828) 227- 7495
• classNOTES•
May
Saturday , May 6
Spring Commencement. 2 p. m. Ramsey Regional Activity Center.
( 828) 227- 7495
Thursday , May 11– Sunday , May 14
Softball— Southern Conference Softball Championship.
Chattanooga, Tenn. ( 828) 227- 7338
Friday , May 12– Sunday , May 14
Catamount baseball— vs. Kennesaw State. Game time varies.
Childress Field/ Hennon Stadium. ( 828) 227- 7338
Friday , May 19– Sunday , May 21
Catamount baseball— vs. Furman. Southern Conference game.
Game time varies. Child

Western Spring
2006
T h e Mag a z i n e o f We st e r n C a ro l i n a U n i v e r s i t y
Head of the Class
Teacher Education Program
Earns High Marks
4
Cover Story
Features
8 Partners in Preservation
University, Cherokee Collaborate
To Revitalize Language, Culture
17 Going to the Dogs
Professor Breaks New Ground
With Pet Breed Popularity Study
18 Some Good Sports
Baseball Legend’s Jersey Retired;
Track Runs Circles Around the Rest
25 Reality Check
Business Grad Rubs Shoulders
With Donald Trump on “ The Apprentice”
26 The Western Wing
Catamounts Make Their Mark
In Our Nation’s Capital
29 News and Notes
Catch Up with Classmates
Spring 2006
Volume 10, No. 2
Western Carolina University Magazine, formerly known
as Our Purple and Gold, is produced by the Office of
Public Relations in the Division of Advancement and
External Affairs for alumni, faculty, staff, friends and
students of Western Carolina University.
Chancellor John W. Bardo
Vice Chancellor Clifton B. Metcalf
Advancement and
External Affairs
Associate Vice Chancellor Leila Tvedt
Public Relations
Managing Editor Bill Studenc
Associate Editor Teresa Killian
Art Director Rubae Sander
Chief Photographer Mark Haskett ’ 87
Contributing Writers Mike Cawood
Randall Holcombe
Daniel Hooker ’ 01
John Kenyon
Christy McCarley ’ 71 MA’ 78
Jim Rowell ’ 72
Dianne Yount ’ 79
Student Writer Gary Takacs ’ 06
Contributing Designers John Balentine
Loretta Adams ’ 80
Contributing Photographer Ashley T. Evans
Special thanks to:
Tyler Norris Goode of The Asheville Citizen- Times,
Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation Department
and the Cherokee Preservation Foundation for their
contributions to this issue
Please send story ideas and suggestions to
Western Carolina University Magazine
Suite 420, H. F. Robinson Building
Western Carolina University
Cullowhee, NC 28723
or via e- mail: bstudenc@ wcu. edu
Go to the Western Carolina University Alumni Association
Web site ( alumni. wcu. edu) to add a class note, update your
information, or catch up on campus events.
Postmaster: Send address changes to
Office of Alumni Affairs, Suite 520, H. F. Robinson Building
Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC 28723
Making the Grade
Efforts to Ease Teacher Shortage
Earn National Recognition
T he M a g a z i n e o f W e s te r n C a r o l i n a U n i v e r s i t y Western
The statue of the Catamount mascot, a
2000 gift to Western from longtime benefactor
Irwin Belk, has a new position of prominence on
campus. Workers have relocated the bronze
sculpture from its previous home off Centennial
Drive to inside the traffic circle at the main
entrance to the university.
Student teacher Christie Walters is surrounded by some
of her young friends at Scotts Creek Elementary School
in Jackson County. Walters is pictured on the cover with
( clockwise from left) Alex Hernandez, Alannah Quinn,
Tony Houston and Leah Woodring.
at Western that ‘ it takes a partnership to prepare a teacher,’”
he said. “ By working closely with our school partners,
we strive to prepare teachers who can help all students
learn to a high level of academic achievement. We call it
a ‘ partnership for performance.’”
Established in 1997 as one of 14 such partnerships
in North Carolina, SUTEP has formal agreements with 80
schools in 17 WNC school systems and informal partner-ships
with the remaining school systems and charter schools
in the region. Through the partnership, which also involves
faculty members from Western’s College of Arts and Sciences,
educators from local systems help provide a “ real- world
classroom” perspective to students in the university’s teacher
education program. Teachers serve as clinical faculty, co-teaching
selected courses with Western instructors in an
effort to blend theory and prac-tice,
and as cooperating teachers
working with faculty members
on education research projects.
Local school systems also provide
pre- service field experience for
Western’s student teachers – an
activity that had been taking
place long before the formal
partnership began.
“ North Carolina is facing
an education crisis, and to
compete in a knowledge- based
global economy, we just have to
strengthen our public schools
and get more of our people
better educated,” said Erskine
Bowles, president of the Univer-sity
of North Carolina system.
“ As a university, we have com-mitted
to make teacher educa-tion
a top priority and to do all
we can to address the shortage
of classroom teachers, as well as
the quality of our teachers, curriculum and school leaders.
The SUTEP program at Western offers a proven model that
is attracting national praise, and it shows how much can
be achieved when our campuses and the local schools work
together as one team.”
In keeping with that pledge to make teacher education
a priority, the UNC Board of Governors has included initial
planning money for a new education and allied professions
building at WCU as part of its initial capital budget request
to the N. C. General Assembly for the 2006- 07 fiscal year.
That is the first step in making the proposed $ 34 million
project a reality.
The superintendent of one of WCU’s local school
system partners said she is not surprised by the show of
state support and the national recognition Western’s teacher
education program is receiving. “ I am a graduate of WCU
with three education degrees and am very thankful for
the outstanding education I received,” said Anne Garrett
’ 78 MS ’ 82 EdS ’ 84, superintendent of Haywood County
schools. “ The faculty and staff at Western are very deserving
of this prestigious award, and they provide quality teachers
and administrators for our classrooms and schools in
Haywood County. We have an excellent partnership with
the university and have several of our staff teaching under-graduate
and graduate classes.”
Garrett and other educators say that it is through such
partnerships and other innovative methods that North
Carolina can begin to solve the teacher shortage. In addition
to traditional teacher preparation programs, the university
provides alternative training programs, such as the NC
TEACH program. NC TEACH ( Teachers of Excellence for All
Children) is designed to help alleviate a statewide shortage of
public school teachers by training, supporting and retaining
highly skilled, mid- career professionals who are interested in
becoming teachers. Initiated in 2000, NC TEACH is a joint,
statewide effort of the State Board of Education and the
University of North Carolina, including Western.
Regardless of whether teachers are getting prepared to
work in North Carolina classrooms through a traditional
teacher education program or through a mid- career lateral
entry initiative, Western is ready, willing and able to do its
part to help train the teachers of tomorrow, said Chancellor
John W. Bardo.
“ Western was founded as a teacher education institu-tion,
and preparing highly qualified teachers has always
been among the hallmarks of this university,” Bardo said.
“ That responsibility has become even more critical because
continuing prosperity for our region, state and nation must
be built upon the foundation of education. We are proud of
the vital role our teacher education graduates are playing in
ensuring that future, and we are thrilled that our partner-ship
with local school systems has received this significant
national recognition.”
# 1
n upsurge in the school- age population in North
Carolina, combined with legislative demands for
smaller class sizes and an increase in teacher qualifi-cation
requirements due to the federal No Child Left Behind
Act, is leading to what many are calling a looming crisis in
the state’s classrooms. In fact, experts say North Carolina
already is in the midst of a shortage of qualified teachers and
that the situation is getting worse, as the state’s public and
private colleges are producing only about 3,300 traditionally
trained teachers per year – far short of the nearly 10,000
new teachers needed annually.
If the faculty and staff of West-ern’s
College of Education and Allied
Professions have anything to say about
it, however, that shortage should be
short- lived. In recent years, the college
has mounted several new initiatives
aimed at reversing the teacher short-age
by improving working conditions
for educators, providing additional support to new teachers
and working hand- in- hand with public school systems across
Western North Carolina.
Those efforts are beginning to pay dividends – in more
ways than one. The College of Education and Allied Profes-sions
is now winning national recognition for its teacher
education program and for its outstanding working rela-tionships
with local school systems. The university earlier
this year was named recipient of the 2006 Distinguished
Program in Teacher Education award by the Association
of Teacher Educators. Western beat out co- finalist Arizona
State University for the honor.
ATE presented the award to Western for its teacher
preparation program that features ongoing collaboration
with school systems across WNC through the School-
University Teacher Education Partnership. SUTEP is part
of Western’s effort to improve the academic achievement
of students in all grade levels by providing assistance to
educators at each step in their development – when they are
student teachers, when they first enter the teaching profes-sion,
and when they are seeking additional professional
development in the middle of their careers. The latest
honor for the college comes mere
months after Western placed
among finalists nationally for last
year’s Christa McAuliffe Excellence
in Teacher Education Award
presented annually by the American
Association of State Colleges
and Universities.
“ Receiving this prestigious
national award is certainly an important validation of our
mission to prepare high- quality teachers for North Carolina’s
public schools,” said Michael Dougherty, dean of the College
of Education and Allied Professions. “ As much as this award
means to us in the teacher education program, however, the
bigger reward comes from knowing that our graduates are
making a real difference in the lives of young people, and
that our faculty members are making a real difference in the
lives of our teachers.”
Dougherty called the award “ a strong endorsement”
of the region’s public schools and their involvement in the
university’s teacher preparation program. “ We have a saying
Western’s Efforts to Combat Teacher Shortage Win National Award
By BILL STUDENC
A
We’re
Number 1!
“ Western offers a proven model that
is attracting national praise,
and it shows how much can be
achieved when our campuses
and the local schools work together.”
— UNC President Erskine Bowles
Student teacher Telly B a nks work s wi th pupils at Can ton Midd le School.
WCU student Debbie Dills guides East Franklin Elementar y School students Maria Mora ( left)
and Ana Martinez during a science class.
The Magazine of Western Carolina University SPRING 2006 SPRING 2006 The Magazine of Western Carolina University
As part of a university priority to combat a shortage of
qualified teachers in North Carolina classrooms, Western’s
newly established Center for the Support of Beginning
Teachers is helping Western North Carolina school systems
to prevent beginning teachers from experiencing “ career
burnout” and leaving the profession.
Housed in Western’s College of Education and Allied
Professions, the center builds upon existing partnerships
with the public schools to try to stem the tide of new teachers
abandoning the profession before they have completed five
years of service.
“ A large part of the teacher shortage we are experiencing
in North Carolina is due to issues we are facing in retaining
qualified teachers in the classroom,” said Michael Dougherty,
dean of the College of Education and Allied Professions. “ This
new center is part of an effort to help keep beginning teachers
in the classroom and provide them support to persist and be
successful in the teaching profession – something that we
often call ‘ mending the leaking bucket.’”
Through the center, Western teacher education faculty
are collaborating with beginning teachers, mentors, central
office personnel, principals, researchers and policy makers on
the development of effective programs to help new teachers
successfully make the transition into the profession. The cen-ter
provides resources and professional development activities
tailored to teachers in WNC, including experiences intended
to result in highly qualified teachers who implement class-room
activities that promote high student performance.
Directing the Center for the Support of Beginning Teachers
is former public school teacher Janice Holt ’ 76 MAEd ’ 77
EdS ’ 87. Holt, who taught in the Jackson County school
system from 1976 until 2000, worked previously for the
university as a teacher- in- residence and with WCU’s School-
University Teacher Education Partnership.
One of the center’s activities is the Teacher Support
Program, which offers an array of direct support services
to all educators in North Carolina who serve students with
disabilities. The purpose of the TSP is to reduce teacher
stress and burnout, increase teacher efficacy, reduce the gap
between research and practice, and retain teachers in
the profession. Services offered include collaborative
problem- solving sessions, electronic communication
and collaboration, on- site consultation, information and
material searches, and mentoring. The TSP is completing
its fifth year of operation, and the university is looking to
replicate the program in the central and eastern regions
of the state in the coming year.
The center also is developing an e- mentoring project
to provide Web- based support to teachers, including online
classrooms and discussion boards designed to provide the
opportunity for new teachers to share resources, lesson plans,
instructional strategies and classroom management tips with
colleagues from schools at five rural school systems. “ We want
to build a community of learners outside the constraints of
geography,” Holt said. “ The virtual network increases new
teachers’ confidence by adding the critical support they need
to stay in the classroom. We also are trying to be respectful of
beginning teachers’ demanding schedules by allowing them
to participate at a time and place most convenient to them,
rather than require that they drive to the central office for
meetings after school.”
First- year teacher Catherine DeWeese ’ 04 said the
e- mentoring program is helping her make a successful
transition from sitting in a classroom to standing in front
of one. “ I was skeptical at first of how this forum would
work for me and how much information I could gain
from it,” DeWeese said. “ As it has turned out, the
online chats have been an enormous benefit to me. I
feel at ease in this setting, and I believe this has led
to more honest and open discussions with my peers.”
“ We must find a way.” Those words, describing North
Carolina’s critical need to attract and retain excellent public
school teachers, inspired a unique idea. The words laid the
groundwork more than 20 years ago for a residential center
to provide experiences to renew the love for learning that
first called them to the teaching profession.
The speaker was Jean Powell of Clinton, North Caroli-na’s
1983 “ Teacher of the Year.” In an address that year
to the Commission on Education for Economic Growth,
headed by Gov. James B. Hunt Jr., Powell said: “ To attract
and retain the best teachers, we must find a way to enhance
their self- worth, pride of accomplishment and enthusiasm.”
The commission liked Powell’s idea. H. F. “ Cotton” Rob-inson,
then chancellor of Western Carolina University, was
named to lead the planning committee for a center to foster
excellence in teaching. Two years later, the state legislature
established on the Western campus the North Carolina
Center for the Advancement of Teaching. The center, better
known as NCCAT, was directed “ to advance the art and
profession of teaching.”
Gradually, teacher- by- teacher, word began to spread that
North Carolina had a special place in the mountains just for
them. Enrollments in seminars increased. Within four years,
NCCAT outgrew its temporary headquarters in Madison
Hall on the WCU campus. A permanent home on a hillside
campus adjacent to the university opened in 1990. The new
buildings, including a conference facility and two residences
for visiting teachers, were given Cherokee names that mean
“ a place in the mountains to explore the human spirit.”
Teachers say that’s exactly what NCCAT seminars pro-vide
– a place to explore their spirits. “ I went to NCCAT, and
it was at a make- or- break point. ‘ Am I going to stay in educa-tion?
Am I not?’ I was getting disenchanted. And the week
that I spent out there, I’m talking to others, interacting,
learning and sharing, and that’s when it really hit me that
education is what I’m supposed to do,” said Bill Melega of
Chapel Hill.
Robin Showalter of Sanford agreed.
“ I returned to the classroom with a
renewed spirit and dedication to my
students and my profession. Without this
experience, I sincerely believe I would have
left the profession,” Showalter said.
More than 5,000 teachers arrive
at NCCAT each year to attend five- day
residential seminars that provide the gift
of time to pursue ideas, meet colleagues
from all over the state, and stretch their
minds with new learning. Seminars cover
a wide range of topics that take teachers on
journeys of the mind. Through the years,
teachers have built electric cars, painted
Latino murals, met Pulitzer Prize- win-ning
authors, catalogued wildflowers, tested water quality in
streams, mapped the constellations, hiked the Appalachian
Trail, cast their lines with commercial fishermen, studied the
science of chocolate, recreated prehistoric tools, dabbled in
DNA sampling and become scientific sleuths at simulated
crime scenes.
Many seminars take participants on real- life journeys
for experiential learning – to the streets of Manhattan for a
behind- the- scenes study of the makings of Broadway shows,
to Montana to retrace parts of the epic Lewis and Clark expe-dition,
and to the Deep South to travel the roads of the civil
rights movement – all in the name of renewing teachers’ zest
for teaching, and for life.
Teachers are able to choose NCCAT adventures in the
mountains and at the coast, and a major expansion will
enable the center to broaden its programs even further.
The former U. S. Coast Guard Station on Ocracoke Island is
undergoing renovations to provide an eastern campus.
With teacher shortages growing, NCCAT has emerged as
a national model for providing new knowledge, support and
encouragement to
a vitally important
profession. “ I’m so
proud of this place,”
former Gov. Hunt
said as part of a 20th
anniversary celebra-tion
at NCCAT. “ His-tory
is going to show
that, in addition to
our great university
system, our two- year
college system and
our public schools,
this is one of the
best things that
we’ve done
in our state.”
New Center Provides Support to Beginning Teachers
By BILL STUDENC
NCCAT Celebrates 20 Years of Professional Renewal
By CHRISTY MCCARLEY ’ 71 MA ’ 78
Leslie Dougherty MAEd ’ 88 ( left), a teacher at Cullowhee Valley Elementary School, works
with Amelia Hastings ’ 05.
The NCCAT campus in Cullowhee provides a welcoming retreat.
Former Gov. James Hunt
The Magazine of Western Carolina University SPRING 2006 SPRING 2006 The Magazine of Western Carolina University
Western students have
participated in archaeological
digs on the campus in Cullowhee,
which was home to Cherokee
settlements lasting up until the
Trail of Tears. Jane Eastman,
director of Cherokee Studies,
will launch a new traveling
program this summer to take
students to visit Cherokee
and other mounds across
the southeast.
Did you grow up on the Qualla Boundary
( also known as the Cherokee Reservation)?
Yes, but my family did live downstate for a few years
during my upbringing.
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Did you ever dream about becoming Principal Chief someday?
I have always been interested in business. I never dreamed about
becoming Principal Chief. The opportunity just presented itself,
and I felt like it was the right path at the right time.
How did you decide to attend Western?
WCU provided a quality education that also allowed me to
remain close to my family and the Cherokee community.
How did you decide to major in business management?
This curriculum provided me the broad background to work toward
my goal of assisting with or running a large company in the future.
What do you like to do for fun?
I love to fish and hunt and spend time with my family.
What is your favorite food?
My favorite food would have to be snow crab legs.
Do you have a motto or words that you live by?
Work hard, be dedicated, and success will follow.
What are people often surprised to learn about the
Cherokee Indians?
That we don’t live in teepees. We are educated and successful
people who still maintain our authentic culture.
How did you learn to speak Cherokee?
Growing up, I would hear the Cherokee language and
pick up a few words here and there. But when I became
Chief, I asked Myrtle Driver ( a fluent speaker) to tutor
me on a regular basis.
What are your hopes for the future of the Eastern Band?
My hope for the future of the Eastern Band is that we continue to
be leaders. We have always been progressive, and I think that will
continue in both the social and economic arenas. I am proud of the
strides we have made culturally in the face of great change, and I
expect we will continue to protect and nurture our Cherokee culture
so that we never lose our identity as a people.
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians elected Hicks
Chief in 2003. He holds an associate’s degree in accounting
from Southwestern Community College and a bachelor’s
degree in business management from Western. He became
a Certified Public Accountant in 1994.
with
Principal Chief Michell Hicks ’ 87
Western Carolina University students
have dug spoonful by spoonful to unearth
artifacts from ancient Cherokee settle-ments
that once stood on land that has
become the university’s campus. They
wanted to learn more about the Cherokee
people, who, despite the odds, have been
an unwavering presence in the mountains
for centuries.
The nature of the Cherokee Studies
Program at Western, though, is changing
– for the better.
“ We have concentrated studies on
Cherokee culture from historical and
anthropological perspectives,” said Jane
Eastman, director of the Cherokee Studies
Program. “ What it’s going to become, and
what it should become, is a group of profes-sors,
staff and students at the university
working with the Cherokee community not
only for academic reasons but also to ex-plore
health issues, economic development
and language revitalization.
“ We hope to offer degree and certificate
programs that support the expressed needs
of the community. The university serves the
region, and the Cherokee people are a very
important community in the region – an
amazing group of people with a long history
in one place,” Eastman said.
The number of partnerships between
WCU and the Eastern Band of Cherokee
Indians, a sovereign nation less than an
hour from Cullowhee, is growing. Tom
Hatley, Sequoyah Distinguished Professor
in Cherokee Studies, and Roseanna Belt,
director of WCU’s Cherokee Center, led a
process of joint planning that resulted in a
historic agreement with the tribe. The lead-ers
of the university and the Eastern Band
spoke at an event to celebrate the signing
of the agreement, or memorandum of
understanding. Chancellor John Bardo said
the university, the Cherokee people and the
Western North Carolina region are “ inextri-cably
intertwined.”
“ The documents we are signing today
are additional evidence of our commitment
to engage with the people of Cherokee for
the mutual benefit of the Eastern Band
and the university, a reciprocal relationship
symbolized by the fact that the documents
we sign are written in both the Cherokee
language and in English,” Bardo said. Prin-cipal
Chief Michell Hicks ’ 87 said the long,
strong relationship between the university
and the Eastern Band is important to the
future of the entire region. “ We have be-come
true neighbors to each other,” he said.
The planning process for the MOU
yielded formation, also, of an ongoing,
diverse task force to pinpoint issues and
opportunities to work together. Lynne Har-lan
of the Eastern Band and Beth Tyson
Lofquist ’ 78 MAEd ’ 79 EdS ’ 88, associate
vice chancellor for academic affairs, co- chair
the diverse group.
Another key development that has
promoted and supported the partnerships
is the establishment in 2000 of the Cherokee
Preservation Foundation. The nonprofit
works to improve the quality of life of the
Eastern Band and strengthen the region
through supporting cultural preservation,
economic and workforce development, and
environmental protection. The foundation
awards grants and convenes and brokers
partnerships between the Eastern Band,
regional neighbors and philanthropic
organizations. Executive Director Susan
Jenkins said more than $ 600,000 has been
granted to seed ongoing initiatives in which
Western is a partner.
“ Our expectations are very high,”
Jenkins said. “ Whether we move forward
on other projects depends on what the
results are. So far, it has been very good.”
Grants resulting from partnerships
have enabled Western to expand and diver-sify
the Cherokee Studies Program. Today,
elders- in- residence such as Freeman Owle
’ 76 MAEd ’ 78 and Tom Belt work and
teach on campus. Newly established
Sequoyah Assistantships help fund the work
of graduate students interested in Chero-kee
studies, and Western has developed an
interdisciplinary certificate program that
allows students to get a graduate degree
with a concentration in Cherokee studies.
A new language program is in development.
A financial freedom program is hosted at
WCU’s Cherokee Center.
Foundation funds have enabled the
university to help operate a program to
revitalize scarce natural resources that
traditional Cherokee artists use. They also
support the exhibition of Cherokee artwork
in the Fine and Performing Arts Center,
which features signage in English and the
Cherokee language, words that capture the
sentiments of cooperation and hope:
Cherokee Story Lives On
Partnerships Write Next Chapter
Series By Teresa Kilian
“ Our Story Lives On”
Principal Chief Michell Hicks ’ 87 and Chancellor
John Bardo sign an agreement in English and Cherokee
to develop partnerships, while Eastern Band community
leaders ( left to right) Lynne Harlan, Kathi Littlejohn,
Dan McCoy, Perry Shell and Marie Junaluska stand
behind them in support.
The Magazine of Western Carolina University SPRING 2006 SPRING 2006 The Magazine of Western Carolina University
What schools offered Cherokee students 100 years
ago in the name of education was a death sentence – a
living death. Boarding schools designed to “ civilize” Indian
children stripped students of their Indian names, cut their
traditionally long hair and forbade them from speaking
their native languages.
Such schools have closed, but
the damage is done: the Cherokee
language is at risk of disappearing, and
without it, many traditions and history
will be lost, said Renissa Walker, man-ager
of the Kituwah Preservation and
Education Program with the Eastern
Band of Cherokee Indians. “ If we lose
our language, are we still Cherokee?”
asked Cherokee singer Paula Nelson.
The Cherokee Preservation Foundation reported this year
that a recent survey, assisted by Western sociologist Kathleen
Brennan, found 72 percent of fluent Cherokee speakers are
over age 50, and the figure concerns Tom Belt, a Western
Carolina University elder- in- residence.
“ The Cherokee language will die out within several
generations if something is not done,” said Belt, who teaches
Cherokee language at Western, which is among universities
that, in contrast to the boarding schools of the past, are allies
of Cherokee culture and language survival.
“ Western’s growing program is a leader among such
schools,” said Tom Hatley, WCU’s Sequoyah Distinguished
Professor in Cherokee Studies. The university, in line with its
recently signed memorandum of understanding, partnered
with the Eastern Band on a multi- year Cherokee language
revitalization initiative. Part of the mission is to produce a
new generation of fluent Cherokee speakers through creat-ing
Cherokee immersion schools on the Qualla Boundary,
commonly known as the Cherokee Reservation. Teachers
will communicate with students in the Cherokee language.
Meanwhile, Western will work to develop curriculum for a
Cherokee language and education program. The goal is not
only to help revitalize the language but also to support those
immersion schools with training high- quality teachers fluent
in the Cherokee language. “ We
want to identify Cherokee speakers
who can become certified teachers,”
said Carrie McLachlan, coordinator of
WCU’s Cherokee Studies Program.
The Cherokee Preservation
Foundation directed $ 458,000 this
year to support the initiative’s first
phase, which includes staffing and
planning for a Cherokee Language Academy and Cherokee
language program development at WCU. The university will
hire a language program developer who is a linguist and a
Cherokee language and community coordinator who is a fluent
Cherokee speaker. The staff members will develop language
courses and certification programs, recruit students to be
teachers and develop a Kituwah Teaching Fellows Program.
Ben Frey, a WCU graduate student and assistant as well
as a member of the Eastern Band, is developing an entire
Cherokee language class with the principles used to design
classes in other modern languages, such as English. He is
integrating grammatical knowledge gained from linguistic
research to create a set of language “ rules” to help Cherokee
language students. His ideas include creating puzzle pieces
that help students put words together and developing a
Cherokee computer game that will teach the language.
“ I want to give something back to the tribe,” Frey said.
“ Language is one of the most solid identifying features a
group of people can have.”
Speaking Up
WCU Boosts Cherokee Language
Classes, Immersion Schools
What began as a request to translate “ The Star- Spangled
Banner” into Cherokee evolved instead into a new song, the
“ United Cherokee Nations Anthem,” which was recorded in
a studio for the first time at Western Carolina University.
The anthem opens with a translation of “ O say can you
see,” but then takes its own course into messages of strength
and the desire for peace. “ It is our own anthem,” said
Renissa Walker, manager of the Kituwah Preservation and
Education Program with the Eastern Band of Cherokee
Indians. Walker’s mother, fluent Cherokee speaker Myrtle
Driver, wrote the lyrics, and Cherokee artist Paula Nelson
put them to music. The anthem, a gift to all three federally
recognized Cherokee tribes, was officially adopted by all
three as their national anthem but was not professionally
recorded until the Kituwah program partnered with WCU
on a new initiative called Project Songbird, Walker said.
The program designed Project Songbird to record
original songs in the Cherokee language to help teach and
revitalize the language. The selections included pieces
about numbers, seasons, a flood and dancing, as well as
the anthem.
Bruce Frazier, Carol Grotnes Belk Distinguished Profes-sor
in Commercial and Electronic Music, combined student
and faculty horsepower with a Cherokee Preservation
Foundation grant in order to record the music at a studio on
campus. “ We wanted to use the university’s state- of- the- art
equipment for instructional purposes and to help support
economic growth in Western North Carolina,” said Frazier,
who was presented with a copy of the finished product this
spring. “ Recording original songs in the Cherokee language
for children and others to learn the language helps fulfill
our mission.”
This CD is only the first of several projects directed at
Cherokee language revitalization, said Carrie McLachlan,
WCU Cherokee studies coordinator. Future phases entail
recording Cherokee language songs in musical styles from
rap to reggae, and there is interest in working with nationally
known Cherokee storytellers. Walker said they want to show
young people that the Cherokee language is not just for the
older generation. “ It’s part of our identity,” Walker said.
Project Songbird Takes Flight
Bruce Frazier, Carol Grotnes Belk Distinguished
Professor in Commercial and Electronic Music,
works at a university recording studio with
Cherokee musician Paula Nelson.
“ The Cherokee language will
die out within several
generations if something
is not done.”
— Cherokee Elder Tom Belt
Historical Maps, Documents
Hunter Library has more than 800 reels
of microfilm for a “ Cherokee Documents
in Foreign Archives” collection of docu-ments
including letters, diaries, census
records, and narratives of Indian captures
that directly mention the Cherokee
Indians, Cherokee territory or Southern
Indians. The library also maintains a
Cherokee maps collection with reproduc-tions
from Great Britain, Canada and
Spain that date primarily to the 17th
and 18th centuries.
A music sample is available at:
www. wcu. edu/ pubinfo/ news/ 2006/ cherokeeanthem. mp3
Resources Preservation
The rivercane, young white oak saplings and clay used by
Cherokee artists are in scarce supply on the tribe’s land,
and Western Carolina University is part of an initiative
to help revitalize those natural resources. The Cherokee
Preservation Foundation began funding the Revital-ization
of Traditional Cherokee Artisan Resources, or
RTCAR, early last year. Operated through WCU’s Chero-kee
Studies program under the leadership of director
David Cozzo and program assistant Debra Standingdeer,
grants have helped support research on rivercane, but-ternut
restoration and the future availability of blood-root,
an essential dye plant for Cherokee basket makers.
New Tools, Research
Sequoyah Assistantships offer
$ 12,000 a year each to two graduate
students who will work 20 hours
a week on a Cherokee or Native
American research project. One
of the students, Ben Frey ( left),
is helping create Cherokee lan-guage
learning tools such as puzzle
pieces with words and designing a
computer game to help teach the
language. Another, Angela Ragan, is
collecting oral histories of Eastern
Band veterans.
The Magazine of Western Carolina 10 University SPRING 2006 SPRING 2006 The Magazine of Western Carolina University 11
The Eastern Band of
Cherokee Indians selected
the name “ Di- sde- li- sgi- a-ni-
wi” for honorary member
Raymond Kinsland. In
Cherokee, the word means
“ helper of young men.”
“ It’s a beautiful lan-guage,”
says Kinsland, 70,
whose temporary teaching
assignment at a Cherokee
school in 1958 transformed
into a life vocation.
Today, Kinsland leads
the Cherokee Boys Club,
which coordinates adminis-trative
and support services
for the Cherokee Central
School System. The club
manages a school bus fleet,
a charter bus service that
serves Western, school food service, and vocational and leadership
programs. Additionally, Kinsland, an announcer at high school
football games, has decades of perfect attendance.
Freeman Owle ’ 76 MAEd ’ 78, a member of the Eastern
Band and an elder- in- residence at Western, said Kinsland has long
deserved the honorary doctorate Western recently bestowed on
him. Kinsland gave everything to young people on the reservation
– time, heart and often his paycheck – to make sure young people
could be paid when they first started working, Owle said. “ He was
just always a guiding light to each and every one of us,” Owle said.
“ He got us started in the right direction, continued with us and
still is with us.”
Kinsland planned to make a career working on his family’s
dairy, but, two weeks after graduating from N. C. State University in
1958, was approached about teaching vocational education at Cher-okee
schools. “ The superintendent sent a lady with a portable type-writer
over to the farm where I was milking cattle,” Kinsland said.
“ She typed my application and begged me to sign it.” He agreed to
a temporary teaching assignment. “ I’ve
been here ever since,” Kinsland said.
Part of his first job entailed working
with vocational clubs. The farm club
grew acres of potatoes, tomatoes and
green beans where the casino is today,
he said. A motor club let students paint
a car or overhaul an engine. “ We had a
lot of young men who needed work and
training,” Kinsland said.
The successes convinced Kinsland
that the discrimination that prevented
Cherokee youth from joining the
Future Farmers of America, spawning
the Cherokee club, was a blessing in
disguise. Later, they merged into the
Cherokee Boys Club, became co- ed
and took the reins of many support
programs for the tribe. “ We provide
the opportunities, but the students get
their own education,” Kinsland said.
Western has helped make their story a success, he said. The
university offers classes on the reservation and has trained educa-tors
who come, return or continue to teach at Cherokee Central
School System, Kinsland said. It was Western’s former Chancellor
H. F. “ Cotton” Robinson, who also had a background in genetics,
who helped purify the strain of Cherokee corn that had cross- bred
with a commercial corn.
“ He got it back to the original strain and brought the seed to
the Cherokee Boys Club, entrusted us to keep it going,” Kinsland
said. “ We are keeping it going.”
Carmaleta Monteith ’ 56, an educational consultant and
member of the Sequoyah professor’s advisory committee, regards
Kinsland as a tribal archivist of sorts. When she needed to review
the history of the hospital, she went to Kinsland first. “ He went
back through the last 25 years of our tribal newspaper, and that
triggered his memory of other, individual stories,” Monteith said.
“ There’s so much historians will never know unless we learn from
Ray Kinsland.”
Life of Service to Youth Leads to Honors for Kinsland
Ray Kinsland helps give Cherokee youth more opportunities.
Cherokee Radio
Cherokee students Evan Stamper ( above) and Drew
Grant visit WWCU- FM Power 90.5, which began
broadcasting a new radio program this year that
features Cherokee students presenting news from the
Cherokee One Feather, the tribe’s weekly newspaper.
SMART Start
WCU student Lydia
Poetker ( right) mentors
students at the Cherokee
Youth Center through
the SMART program.
Not only do Western
students work one- on-one
with Cherokee students, they also host a range
of activities from drama to writing. Part of the
SMART program’s mission is to help the tribe’s
young members connect with their own heritage.
An “ ooh” escaped from the fourth- grade audience as West-ern
Carolina University sophomore Rachel All took slow, even
steps onto the stage and raised her arms, letting golden rays
drape from her costume.
That was when the Spanish education major from Char-lotte
knew she and the WCU Theatre in Education Company
had done their jobs: She
was a regal sun, and the
students were paying
attention to the tradi-tional
stories in the play
“ Young Cherokee.”
The production
is part of Western’s
Theatre in Educa-tion
program, which
program directors Glenda Hensley and Claire Eye ’ 90, visiting
assistant professors in the department of communication, the-atre
and dance, designed so Western students could create and
perform quality theatrical productions that also are education-ally
relevant. To explore diversity and help promote cultural
understanding, the Theatre in Education Company chose to
focus its activities for the community on the Cherokee people,
who shaped the artistic and cultural development of Western
North Carolina.
“ Cherokee is 20 minutes away, and so few of us take the
opportunity to learn about that culture that we are connected
to,” Eye said. “ We hoped it would allow us to pass on to stu-dents
what we learned about the Cherokee.”
The WCU students hosted theatre workshops for Cherokee
eighth- graders during the fall and chose “ Young Cherokee,” a
play by Kathryn Schultz Miller, to perform in the spring. In the
play, a Cherokee boy named Chosen One battles an Underwater
Panther and a Thunderbird as he tries to restore power to the
sun and fire. He overcomes fear, shows love for all things on
earth and glimpses the greatest enemy of the Cherokee culture
– the approach of people with vastly different beliefs.
WCU students worked with people such as Cherokee art-ist
Davy Arch, who produced hand- carved masks for the show.
The company received help from WCU’s Cherokee Center
and its director, Roseanna Belt, and other Cherokee elders
and members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. They
traveled to Cherokee and consulted with tribal members to
help design the most historically accurate production, from
the design of the costumes to the retelling of Cherokee stories.
The students adapted the script to change a crawfish to a water
beetle, for instance, in order to better reflect Cherokee stories
of this region, said Sara Dodson, a senior theatre student and
the play’s director.
“ We learned so much about the Cherokee because we
wanted to stay as true to the story as possible,” said Dodson,
who plans to return to her home state of Florida after gradua-tion
to work with a drama ministry.
The Theatre in Education initiative has attracted atten-tion
at multiple conferences. The story of how the program
connects college students with younger people in the commu-nity
and creates opportunities for participants to experience
literature, theatre, art and music will be presented again this
summer at the American Alliance of Theater Educators
conference.
“ Weaving cultural and environmental literacy and service
learning into arts- based learning strategies creates so many
possibilities for collaborative learning and teaching designs,”
Hensley said. “ Our goal is to create a Theatre in Education
program that will serve as a model for both artistic excellence
and significant learning.”
Theatre Program Brings Cherokee Stories to Life
Chosen One, played by
Kendris Myers, talks to
Deer, played by Elena
Pisano, under the
watchful eye of
Walking Bear, played
by Tommy Rawe.
WCU student
Rachel All
plays the Sun.
The Magazine of Western Carolina 12 University SPRING 2006 SPRING 2006 The Magazine of Western Carolina University 13
Are you looking for an excuse for a mountain getaway this summer?
The folks at Western’s Fine and Performing Arts Center may have just the
ticket, as the university is launching a new summer subscription series of
Sunday afternoon shows.
Highlighted by a Fourth of July weekend performance of “ Mark Twain
Tonight!” starring motion picture and television star Hal Holbrook, the
series includes a Memorial Day weekend performance of “ A Closer Walk
with Patsy Cline,” a Father’s Day production of a musical revue of the mu-sic
of World War II, and a nostalgic variety show centered on the 1950s.
“ As our inaugural season of shows is nearing a close, we are get-ting
many, many requests from patrons to keep the programming coming
during the summer months,” said Paul Lormand, director of performance
facilities for WCU’s Fine and Performing Arts Center. “ We have scheduled
four wonderful shows for what we are calling our Sunday Sizzlin’ Summer
Shorts Series.”
The series will kick off Sunday, May 28, with “ A Closer Walk with
Patsy Cline,” featuring Erica McGee performing 20 of the country music
legend’s most popular songs, followed by the musical cabaret “ War Bonds:
The Songs and Letters of World War II” on Sunday, June 18.
Holbrook will bring his critically acclaimed portrayal of Mark Twain
to Cullowhee on Sunday, July 2, and “ Laughing with the Legends,” featur-ing
music, memories and merriment from the fabulous ’ 50s, will close the
summer series Sunday, July 30.
All shows will begin at 3 p. m. in the main performance hall of the Fine
and Performing Arts Center. Summer season subscriptions are on sale.
Subscriptions are $ 75 each.
For more information, call the box office at ( 828) 227- 2479.
Toot Uncommon
WCU’s Resident Brass Quintet Headed to UK
By BILL STUDENC
Just the Ticket
Performing Arts Center Raises Curtain
on New Summer Series
The Chancellor’s Speaker Series
will resume in the fall semester as Gen.
Richard B. Myers, former chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, visits campus Monday,
Sept. 18, for a conversation with Western
students and an evening presentation in
the Fine and Performing Arts Center.
The speaker series is designed to
bring significant national and international
leaders to campus to discuss major is-sues
of the day, and to provide Western
students with an opportunity to interact
with some of the people who shape and
influence the world. Past speakers have
included former U. S. Sen. Bob Dole, vice
presidential candidate John Edwards,
former U. S. Surgeon General M. Joycelyn
Elders, Nobel Peace Prize– winning Polish
leader Lech Walesa and actor Danny
Glover.
Myers, who served as the nation’s
15th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
will meet in an informal afternoon session
designed for Western students only. The
session, to include opening remarks fol-lowed
by a question- and- answer period,
will begin at 3 p. m. in the performance
hall of the Fine and Performing Arts
Center. His public address, “ World War
‘ X’: What’s At Stake in the Global War
on Terror,” is scheduled for 7: 30 p. m. and
also will be held in the performance hall.
( Times of both events are subject to
change.)
Myers,
former principal
military adviser
to President
George W. Bush,
was the nation’s
highest- ranking
military officer
from 2001 until
2005, serving
during a period
of unprecedent-ed
global unrest.
He led American forces in Afghanistan
and Iraq, and guided the U. S. military’s
response to the massive domestic and
international relief efforts following 2004’ s
Asian tsunami and 2005’ s Hurricane
Katrina.
Admission to Myers’ evening presen-tation
is free of charge; there is a limit of
four tickets per person. To reserve a seat
or for more information, contact the Fine
and Performing Arts Center box office at
( 828) 227- 2479.
Certain faculty
members at Western
aren’t ones to blow their
own horns… well, actu-ally,
they are, but you
can’t really blame them.
That’s because they’re the
members of the Smoky
Mountain Brass Quintet,
the resident faculty brass
quintet at WCU, and
they’re bound for Eng-land,
Wales and Ireland
this spring.
The United Kingdom
excursion in May is the
second annual interna-tional
tour for the SMBQ,
which participated last
year in the International
Romantic Trumpet Fes-tival
in St. Petersburg,
Russia. Stops on the
upcoming trip include
concerts at the Galway-
Mayo Institute of Technology in Galway, Ireland; the Royal Welch College of Music
and Drama in Cardiff, Wales; and the University of Wales– Swansea. The quintet also
will be performing a children’s concert at the King Henry VIII School in Coventry,
England, and joining the Jaguar Brass Band of Coventry in a benefit concert.
“ We are very excited about this tour because it will help build Western’s already
active relationships with institutions in Galway and Swansea,” said P. Bradley Ulrich,
professor of trumpet at WCU. “ Since this year has been named ‘ the year to promote
study abroad,’ we feel the timing of this tour could not be better.”
Quintet members, in addition to Ulrich, are David Ginn ’ 92, trumpet; Alan F.
Mattingly, horn; Daniel Cherry, trombone; and Michael Schallock, tuba. The group
has been in existence since 1993 and performs a wide range of music from early
music and classical to ragtime, jazz and contemporary compositions.
The recital performances across WNC and in the UK will feature music from the
Southern Appalachian region of the United States, including selections by several
past and present WCU composers. Mark Connor, theory and composition teacher at
WCU, wrote “ Persistent Echoes,” a one- movement piece based on the melody “ Sweet
Prospect” from the Southern Harmony shape- note hymnbook published in the mid-
1800s in the Southern Appalachian region. The ensemble also will perform “ Four
Hymn Tune Settings” by Paul Basler, a WCU faculty member from 1989 until 1992,
and a new three- movement composition based on Cherokee Indian music by Robert
Kehrberg, interim dean of WCU’s College of Arts and Sciences.
“ We are especially proud and excited to be performing Dr. Kehrberg’s latest
piece, which was commissioned by the SMBQ especially for this occasion,” said Ul-rich.
“ This multi- movement piece reflects on the recorded music of the Eastern Band
of the Cherokee and creates new music based on the rhythmic and melodic material
found in these recordings.”
For more information about the SMBQ, visit the Web site www. smbq. com.
The Smoky Mountain Brass Quintet
Speaker Series Resumes
Ex- Chairman of
Joint Chiefs of Staff
on Campus in Fall
Gen. Richard B. Myers
MuseumSCHEDULE
Summer 2006
WORLDVIEWS: Selections from the Permanent
Collection and New Gifts, contemporary art in all media
continuing through September 1
Natalie M. Smith: HIVES mixed media installation
continuing through May 14
Lasting Impressions: Native American Print Portfolio
May 15 – June 11
Master of Fine Arts Degree Program Thesis Exhibitions
June 20 – July 15
Hazel Larsen- Archer: Black Mountain College
Photographer
August 15 – September 10
For more information, contact
Director Martin DeWitt, Fine Art Museum,
( 828) 227- 3591 or mdewitt@ wcu. edu.
Museum Hours: Tuesday – Saturday 10 a. m. – 4 p. m.
and FAPAC Summer Performance Series Sundays
www. wcu. edu/ fapac
The Fine Art Museum
at the Fine & Performing
Arts Center
The Magazine of Western Carolina 14 University SPRING 2006 SPRING 2006 The Magazine of Western Carolina University 15
Here’s one professor whose research truly has gone
to the dogs.
Hal Herzog, professor of psychology at Western, had
long wondered why people choose the types of dogs they
select for pets. Working with university colleagues in London
and California, Herzog examined American Kennel Club
records of more than 40 million purebred puppies registered
in the United States over the past 50 years.
His findings? Man picks man’s best friend not on the
basis of reason or because the breed inherently makes a
good pet. Instead, it’s a matter of what’s trendy, Herzog
says. The results of the study, originally published in the
Royal Society’s Biology Letters ( a scientific journal in Great
Britain), attracted quite a bit of attention in the British press
before being picked up by USA Today and other American
news media.
Dogs were originally selected for domestication for such
utilitarian reasons as hunting or herding, but since most
people aren’t sheepherders, service has been replaced by
fashion, he said. “ Dogs become popular through the same
mechanisms that impel, say, wearing baseball caps brim-backward,”
he said. “ A person selecting a pet dog seems to
be highly influenced by choices being made by others at
about the same time, without his or her knowing it. In this
respect, dog breed popularity is no different
than changing tastes in food – remember
fondue pots? –
clothing styles or music. They have
become fads.”
Swings in popularity of certain
breeds can be dramatic, and some-times
can be traced to a specific event,
such as the rise in popularity of Dalmatians after
recent Disney movies, said Herzog, who won
WCU’s Distinguished Scholar Award for his work. “ More
often, however, there is no
apparent single cause of swings in popularity, such as the
booms that occurred in Doberman pinschers, chow chows
and Saint Bernards. The popularity of some breeds can just
take off, much like a social epidemic.”
In their study, Herzog and his colleagues say they have
demonstrated that most shifts in the popularity of dog
breeds in the United States can be attributed to a process
called “ random drift,” in which individuals simply copy the
choices made by others. The result, they say, is that many
breeds become popular just by chance. Similar studies have
linked “ random drift” to other cultural
trends, from popular baby names
to designs on ancient pottery.
So, what are the current
trends in dog breed popular-ity?
In 2003, the most popular
breed in the United States was
the Labrador retriever, followed
by the golden retriever, German shepherd
and beagle. Breeds on the rise include the Havanese, cavalier
King Charles spaniel, Brussels griffon and French bulldog,
while the Dalmatian, chow chow, rottweiler, akita and Pekin-ese
are on the decline.
Others are picking up on the work of Herzog and his col-leagues.
A team of Columbia University researchers studying
popular music tastes, which also pointed to random drift
and the impact of social influences on personal preferences,
recently cited the earlier study as “ ingenious.”
Western students will provide about $ 4.2 million worth
of volunteer work for Western North Carolina communities
this academic year as they participate in co- curricular vol-unteer
activities and course- based service learning projects.
That’s the word from Glenn Bowen, director of Western’s
Service Learning Program.
More than 30 percent of Western students – about
2,460 people – currently participate in volunteer work and
service learning projects, and average three hours of service
each week. “ Using the latest independent sector figures
for the value of volunteer work, which are based on data
from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, each of these students
contributes $ 1,684 in service during the 32- week academic
year,” Bowen said.
Western’s service learning department, part of the
Division of Student Affairs, promotes volunteerism and co-ordinates
traditional community service. An important part
of the department’s work is to collaborate with faculty to
integrate community service into the curriculum. “ Commu-nity
service connected to the curriculum is what we refer to
as service learning,” Bowen said. “ Service learning enriches
coursework by providing opportunities for students to use
their academic knowledge and skills in ‘ real- life’ situations.”
The community partners for Western’s service learn-ing
program include nonprofit organizations, social service
agencies, community- based organizations, local government,
nongovernmental organizations, schools, church- related
groups and service clubs. Since the service learning program
began at Western about five years ago, the number of its
community partners has grown significantly, with a total
now of 83.
As an example, Western’s program is partnering with
the Rotary Club of Sylva, the Interact Club of Smoky Moun-tain
High School and St. David’s Episcopal Church in “ Project
Panama,” an alternative spring break trip to work on school
renovation and health care in rural communities in the Latin
American country.
The services provided through Western’s service learning
program are just one facet of the university’s engagement
with the region’s communities, Bowen said. “ The engaged
campus is unable to separate its unique responsibility for
the development of knowledge from the role of knowledge
in a democratic society to form the basis for social progress
and human equality,” he said. “ That’s why we value and
cherish the partnerships between our campus and the wider
community – partnerships involving various centers and de-partments
of the university with organizations and institu-tions
in the community. These are partnerships designed to
improve the social, cultural and economic life of our commu-nity
and our region.”
Professor Ponders
Pet Popularity
By BILL STUDENC
Western Students
Provide $ 4.2 Million
In Volunteer Work to
Local Communities
By RANDALL HOLCOMBE
Hal Herzog
“ Dogs become popular
through the same mechanisms
that impel wearing
baseball caps brim- backward,”
— Hal Herzog
A Breed Apart
Western student volunteers include ( clockwise from top left) the hundreds
of students who help clean the Tuckaseigee River every year; Jennifer
Nyland, who spends time with nursing home resident Bertha Moss; and
Jennifer Spivey, who lends a hand to Christina Smith ’ 05, executive
director of the Jackson County Community Table.
The Magazine of Western Carolina 16 University SPRING 2006 SPRING 2006 The Magazine of Western Carolina University 17
A Hennon Stadium– record crowd of 2,832 fans, includ-ing
more than 50 former Western athletes representing three
decades of Catamount baseball, rose to its feet when baseball
legend Keith LeClair ’ 89 arrived on the field for an April 11
ceremony marking the retirement of his No. 23 Catamount
jersey – the first jersey to be retired in Catamount baseball
history. Western’s athletics program chose to bestow the honor
on the former WCU player and coach in appreciation of his
contributions to the sport and in recognition of his courageous
battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, more commonly
known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
In front of a capacity crowd that packed the stands and
overflowed into a parking lot behind the centerfield fence,
the current Catamount squad formed a tunnel of baseball bats
through which Lynn LeClair helped her wheelchair- bound
husband enter the playing field. Surrounded by his children,
parents and in- laws, LeClair watched as a large replica of his
gold jersey, painted on the outfield wall affectionately known
as “ the Purple Monster,” was unveiled. The No. 23 also was
emblazoned onto the grass behind home plate. The LeClair
children, Audrey and J. D., threw pre- game first- pitches, and
current WCU head baseball coach Todd Raleigh ’ 91 MAEd
’ 94 presented the family with gifts, including a framed No. 23
jersey. The emotional ceremony took place prior to the Cata-mounts’
annual game against the nationally ranked Clemson
Tigers, coached by former WCU skipper Jack Leggett, who
recruited LeClair, a fellow New Englander.
Leggett commended the university, the athletics depart-ment
and the baseball program for choosing to honor LeClair.
“ It is not easy to make a decision to retire someone’s number.
There are a lot of great players in the past here, but when you
do make that decision to retire someone’s number, you are
making a statement. That statement is simple – that it is diffi-cult
for someone else to fill those shoes and to fill that uniform.
In Keith’s case, that is certainly the truth,” Leggett said.
“ I have had a lot of players in 29 years, and if you put together
Record Crowd Honors Baseball Legend
LeClair at Jersey Retirement Ceremony
By BILL STUDENC and MIKE CAWOOD
an ‘ All- Leggett Team,’ Keith would be my captain. That says
everything that you need to know about Keith LeClair.”
Raleigh, who both played with LeClair at Western and
coached under him at Western Carolina and East Carolina,
reminisced about being a young freshman athlete learning from
the older LeClair, who was then a senior leader on the team.
“ Every time I did something wrong, Coach Leggett would always
say, ‘ You need to do things more like Keith,’” Raleigh said. “ He is
a tremendous coach, but more importantly, he is a tremendous
human being. He has everything that I want all my players to
have. He has everything I want my son to have – courage, integ-rity,
the work ethic, the competitiveness. He’s the ultimate team
player and the ultimate team coach.”
In remarks read to the crowd by family friend Chuck Young,
LeClair thanked his protégé, his mentor and his alma mater for
the special day. “ It’s hard to believe that 22 years ago I arrived
at Western Carolina University. I remember riding in from the
airport with my one big green Army duffle bag, all set to walk on
and make the baseball team. I had only met Coach Leggett once
before, but I figured a guy from Vermont would give a kid from
Walpole, N. H., a fair shake,” LeClair said in his statement.
“ Much has changed between then and now. I pray that in
the years to come, when people see this No. 23, they will not
think of an individual, but of a team of unity,” he said. “ Without
the support of many others, none of this would have been
possible.”
LeClair, who was inducted into the WCU Athletics Hall of
Fame in 2002, came to Western in 1985 and helped lead the
Catamounts to four consecutive conference championships. He
ranks among the top 10 in six different WCU hitting categories.
After his Western playing days, he signed as a free agent with
the Atlanta Braves organization, playing the 1988 season for
Idaho Falls in the Pioneer League. In 1989, after spending spring
training with the San Francisco Giants organization, he returned
to Cullowhee as an assistant coach on Leggett’s Catamount staff,
a position he held for three seasons.
When Leggett left for an assistant head coaching job at
Clemson in 1992, LeClair became WCU’s head coach at age 25,
guiding the Catamounts to regular season and tournament
championships. The team advanced to the NCAA tournament,
reaching the regional championship game and getting to within
one out of advancing to the College World Series. In his six
seasons at Western, he posted a record of 229- 135- 2, led WCU
to four NCAA tournament berths, and was SoCon Coach of the
Year in 1992, 1994 and 1997.
Following his reign at WCU, LeClair continued his coaching
career at East Carolina University. Joining the Pirates in 1997,
he spent five seasons as head coach and tallied an impressive
record of 219- 96- 1. In 2002, LeClair relinquished his coaching
duties due to health concerns related to ALS. Upon his retire-ment
and after compiling a career record of 448- 231- 3 at West-ern
Carolina and East Carolina, he was honored as first recipient
of the Conference USA Student- Athletic Advisory Committee’s
Coaches Choice Award. In addition, the Conference USA Base-ball
Coach of the Year Award was named in his honor.
“ If you have any pride at all, you always want to leave a
program in better shape than you found it. Even though leaving
Western was a tough decision, I knew I was leaving the program
better than when I arrived by knowing Keith would be taking
over the program,” Leggett said during the jersey retirement
ceremony. “ If our team ends up in Omaha ( site of the College
World Series), or Western Carolina ends up in Omaha, or East
Carolina ends up in Omaha sometime, Keith LeClair will be
there with them.”
Coach Raleigh agreed, saying that much of the baseball
Cats’ tradition of success is due to the legacy of LeClair. “ Facili-ties
don’t make the program,” he said. “ The bats don’t make the
program, and the uniforms don’t make the program. The people
make the program. I’ve been a part of this program for nearly
20 years, and I can’t think of anyone more deserving of this
honor than Keith.”
WCUAthletics
Keith LeClair ’ 89 ( above) coached the
winning Catamounts for more than a
decade. Coach Todd Raleigh ’ 91 MAEd
’ 94 ( right) presents the LeClairs with a
baseball signed by the team.
Former Western coach and current Clemson skipper Jack Leggett ( left) shares a moment with Keith LeClair ’ 89.
Wife Lynn and children J. D. and Audrey ( right) accompany LeClair into Hennon Stadium
The Magazine of Western Carolina 18 University SPRING 2006 SPRING 2006 The Magazine of Western Carolina University 19
As the introduction to “ All Western,” the halftime segment
that airs during broadcasts of many WCU sporting events,
points out, in addition to most valuable players on the fields
and courts of competition, the university also boasts MVPs in
the classrooms, laboratories and libraries. And sometimes a
student earns MVP status both athletically and academically.
WCU soccer standout Emily Pierce, a senior biology major, is
one of those students.
Pierce is recipient of the 2006 Southern Conference’s Da-vid
Knight Graduate Scholarship through an academic award
program sponsored by the TIAA- CREF financial services com-pany.
The graduate scholarship is given in honor of the late
Dr. David Knight, longtime faculty athletics representative at
the University of North Carolina– Greensboro, to recognize the
outstanding accomplishments of a selected student- athlete.
In addition to being the Catamounts’ all- time leading
scorer among defenders, Pierce also served as the women’s
soccer field captain. She held a seat on the Student Athletic
Advisory Committee and served as a SoCon representative to
an NCAA student advisory committee, all while maintaining
a 3.85 grade point average. “ Emily is so ‘ head and shoulder’,”
said Tammy DeCesare, head women’s soccer coach. “ Her work
ethic never wavers. She’s always willing to put the soccer pro-gram
and the team ahead of her own agenda. It’s no surprise
that she received the award. She does it all with a smile and
she’ll be tough to replace.”
After graduation, Pierce plans to continue her education
and pursue a career as a physician’s assistant, specializing in
orthopedics. “ I’ve always wanted to go into the medical field,”
she said. “ Through my work experience I narrowed it down to
a physician’s assistant.” Pierce already has more than a casual
familiarity with orthopedics. Last spring, she tore her medial
collateral ligament ( MCL) in her leg, keeping her out of play
for three months.
Pierce also plans to coach soccer and remain competitive
after graduation. “ Being competitive carries over to every-thing,”
she said. “ Sometimes it’s a curse. My friends and I
can’t play board games because we all have to win. On the
other hand, it can be a good thing. When I start looking into
the job market, I’ll have the competitive edge.”
Pierce joins a host of former Catamount student- athletes
who have earned postgraduate scholarships. Last year, Rans
Brempong ’ 04 became the second consecutive winner of the
Mike Wood postgraduate scholarship honoring a men’s bas-ketball
player, following in the footsteps of Emre Atsur ’ 04.
Lady Catamount basketball player Yoneko Allen ’ 04 also was
awarded the Mike Wood scholarship in 2004. Track and field
athlete Tonya Edmonds ’ 05 won a scholarship through the
NCAA’s Ethnic Minority and Women’s Enhancement Post-graduate
Scholarship Program in 2005, and football’s Jason
Whaley ’ 03 won a scholarship from the National Football
Foundation and College Hall of Fame in 2003.
SoCon Awards WCU’s Emily Pierce
with Graduate Scholarship
By GARY TAKACS ’ 06
WCUAthletics WCUAthletics
Emily Pierce battles against a Campbell player.
Taking It All in Stride
First, Bonzi Wells went down with an injury. Then
Sacramento traded Peja Stojakovic. The Kings’ beat writers
and bloggers began to buzz, wondering who would help
veterans Mike Bibby and Brad Miller generate enough
offense for the Kings.
Former Catamount standout Kevin Martin has tried to
provide an answer. The second- year player out of Western
averaged 17.5 points during a nine- game stretch earlier this
season. Although he’s still the third or fourth option on
most of the Kings’ offensive possessions, Martin scored 20
or more points in three consecutive games. At press time,
he was averaging 11.2 points and nearly four rebounds per
game as the Kings mounted a late- season playoff run.
“ It feels great, especially after we win,” Martin said.
“ When you put good numbers up and lose, it doesn’t matter
much. But it feels good when the team’s winning.”
After struggling from the field while playing limited
minutes as a reserve, Martin has found his NBA range. He’s
shooting better than 50 percent from the field as a starter
( 53.3), and he’s raised his overall 3- point percentage to
nearly 40 percent – a team- high.
“ Kevin is coming out aggressive and taking the shots
that are there,” Kings coach Rick Adelman said. “ We see it
every day. Now he’s just transferring it from practice to
the games.”
At one point during the season, when Martin scored
20 points or more, the Kings went 9- 1. While the national
media frequently mention that stat, Martin’s personal coach
downplays its significance. “ Of course you’re going to be win-ning
when your third offensive option is scoring that many
points,” said David Thorpe, who has worked with Martin
since the summer after his freshman year at WCU. “ The key
for Kevin now is to keep knocking down his shots and earn-ing
the trust of his teammates and coaches so that he’ll get
more opportunities.”
Since being drafted 26th overall ( first round) in the
2004 draft, Martin has learned there’s no instant pathway
to NBA stardom. “ There are a lot of layers to it. When you’re
drafted, you’re on top of the world. Then you come into a
veteran world, and you have to work hard and get experi-ence.
Last year, as a rookie, it was tough mentally. I felt like
when I got extended minutes, I showed flashes of what I did
in college,” said Martin, who ranks fourth on WCU’s all- time
scoring list ( 1,838 points) despite leaving after his junior
season.
“ This year, I started out not shooting very well even
though I did have a couple of good games early. Since Bonzi
went down, though, I’ve been pretty consistent. Right now,
they’re relying on me to score. I’m shooting a high percent-age,
and I want to keep getting better.”
Besides helping the Kings become a playoff contender,
Martin has another reason to shine over the coming months.
His agent, Miami- based Jason Levien, said the Kings could
pick up the option on Martin’s fourth season before Oct. 31.
Martin signed a three- year deal worth at least $ 2.43 million
shortly after being drafted. That contract has a one- year arm
that can be exercised at the Kings’ discretion.
“ The bigger issue for me is not for him to continue
playing at this level,” Levien said. “ Some people in the Kings’
organization have told me they feel like he’s an All- Star, so
we’re just hoping this is the tip of the iceberg.”
Reprinted in edited form with permission of the Asheville Citizen- Times
Former­-
Cat Martin
Excelling as Starter
for NBA’s Kings
By TYLER NORRIS GOODE
Former Catamount Kevin Martin looks for the ball as a Sacramento King.
Western Carolina sophomore Matt Cook is the
2006 Southern Conference Men’s Golfer of the
Year, the first Catamount in team history to earn
the honor, after winning the SoCon men’s individual
golf championship in tournament play in April. It
marked only the second time a WCU men’s golfer
has claimed the SoCon men’s crown. “ Being named
Golfer of the Year is a huge statement for Matt and
the program,” Gorham Bradley ’ 04 said. “ The
honor recognizes the best player from both the fall
and spring. Matt played at a high level versus some
of the best competition in the nation. This honor
will open doors for both him and the program.”
The Magazine of Western Carolina 20 University SPRING 2006 SPRING 2006 The Magazine of Western Carolina University 21
WCUAthletics
Bill Stallings ’ 61 may not live far from the farm where
he has born in Johnston County, but he has come a long way.
Stallings, who worked his way through Western selling ice
cream in the summers, went on to found a business valued
at more than $ 180 million when it sold in 1996.
Stallings started Regional Acceptance Corp. in the late
1970s, which raised $ 20 million in its initial public offer-ing
in 1993. The company found a niche making loans to
people who, because of a hardship such as a family illness,
had less- than- perfect credit. “ It takes hard work, doing what
you say you will do, treating employees the way you want to
be treated, and a little bit of luck to go with it,” said Stallings,
who was honored with Western’s most recent Professional
Achievement Award. Today, he is president of the Stallings
Group.
Stallings credits his experience at Western, where he
majored in history, as what helped him “ spread his wings.”
“ I had never been anywhere hardly – not more than 50 miles
away,” Stallings said. “ Running into different people with
different backgrounds just expanded my horizon.”
Stallings’ friends say that, despite succeeding in the
sometimes cutthroat business world, he remains one of the
most tender- hearted and down- to- earth people they know.
“ He’s the same today as when he was just as poor as a church
mouse,” said Bob Barbour, owner of a Honda dealership in
Greenville. “ Once you get to know him, he’s like a brother.”
People do not have to ask him to help, “ Bill just does it,
” Barbour said. Driving around a few years ago, the two
friends came across a woman sitting outside a motel with
four children playing nearby. Stallings stopped and sent
Barbour over with some money to give them. “ The lady just
started crying,” Barbour said. “ She said, ‘ We have been
praying for something.’”
Stallings’ first job out of school was as a collector for
Home Finance Co. in Charlotte. From there, he moved into
a position as an accounts manager with Ford Motor Credit
Corp. and then a branch office manager and loan officer with
Atlantic Discount in Greenville.
In 1977, he took a risk opening a Grady White boat
dealership in Greenville that emerged as the second- largest
in sales and the top Cox Trailer dealer in the country. He
realized personal lending, though, was more profitable and
shifted his focus to that industry.
David C. Darby, president of Darby and Associates, said
he met Stallings about 20 years ago through his business
providing support services and products to the finance
industry. “ Bill treats customers very fair and gave them the
service they were looking for,” Darby said. “ He has done
extremely well in business, and, personally, he is a very com-passionate
individual.”
alumniAchievements
Giving Credit
Where It’s Due
Reliability, Sympathy
Help Catamount Succeed
Bill Stallings ’ 61
Throughout his younger years, the siren song of the gridiron
kept calling the name of Danny Williamson ’ 84 MAEd ’ 86. But
track and field won out at the end, and WCU athletics turned out
the big winner.
A Sylva native who played “ just about every sport” in high
school, Williamson was drawn most strongly to football as a
young athlete. After high school graduation in 1980, he had
his eye on a football career at WCU, but found himself on the
sidelines as a student assistant while he worked on his degree
in physical education. “ It was then that I started thinking more
about being a football coach, instead of a player,” Williamson
said.
“ Around that time, I did my student teaching at Cullowhee
High School, a K- 12 school ( that was housed on WCU’s campus
in the building that now serves as the University Outreach Cen-ter.)
There was no coach for the boy’s high school track team, so
I became the coach.” Williamson, who ran track at Sylva- Webster
High, led the Cullowhee High Rebels to a conference champion-ship.
It turned out to be a sign of things to come.
Upon graduation from WCU in 1984, Williamson began
work on his master’s degree in physical education while serving
as a graduate assistant for the football team. When the university’s
first women’s track and field team was established, Williamson
assisted with that program, and the following year, he coached
the WCU women’s team for free. Then, the men’s coach resigned
and Williamson signed on to coach both the men’s and women’s
teams full- time for the 1987- 88 season for $ 4,000 per year.
“ The pay was part- time, but the work was full- time,”
Williamson said. “ It was around that time that I decided that
I wanted to be a college track and field coach.”
The rest, as the saying goes, is history. During his tenure
( including 21 seasons coaching the women’s program, and 20
seasons guiding the men’s team), Williamson has led Cata-mount
track and field athletes to 12 Southern Conference team
championships, including the men’s indoor championship this
past February. Williamson has witnessed more than 400 of his
athletes receive All- Southern Conference awards and more than
150 athletes be named individual conference event champions.
Williamson’s work has not gone unnoticed by his peers.
Following the men’s recent indoor conference championship,
Williamson was named men’s SoCon Indoor Coach of the Year,
marking the 19th time Williamson has been named conference
track and field coach of the year for either men’s or women’s
teams, indoor or outdoor seasons. Shortly after that honor was
announced, Williamson was named the NCAA Division I South-east
Regional Men’s Indoor Track and Field Coach of the Year,
the third time he has won that accolade.
WCU’s track and field program now includes about 85 ath-letes,
but in terms of athletic grants- in- aid, the program receives
the equivalent of 14.5 in- state scholarships. For the most part,
the WCU track and field athletes are paying their own way – “ for
the love of the sport,” Williamson said.
Although the university does not have an indoor track
and field facility, Williamson said his teams are able to compete
successfully during the indoor track season because Cullowhee’s
relatively mild climate does not often interfere with the team’s
outdoor training. “ Our philosophy is: Just because we don’t have
something doesn’t mean we can’t do this,” he said. “ You’ve got to
get the kids to believe in what you’re doing. If they see good re-sults,
they will work harder. And if they see the coaches working
hard, they latch on to that.”
Paul Jones ’ 69 MA ’ 70 of Forest City has seen a lot of
Catamount track and field action over the years – as co- captain
of WCU’s first track and field team, then as head coach for those
teams from 1967 to 1981 ( winning numerous conference and
district titles), and now as a fan. The former Catamount Club
president, who is a member of the university’s athletics Hall of
Fame, said Williamson is “ not only a great recruiter, but he has
the right demeanor and the personality it takes to coach track
and field teams.”
Danny Williamson Racks Up Coaching Accolades
By RANDALL HOLCOMBE
Danny Williamson ’ 84 MAEd ’ 86
Making Tracks
The Magazine of Western Carolina 22 University SPRING 2006 SPRING 2006 The Magazine of Western Carolina University 23
One man’s reality is another
man’s weekly reality television show
and, for Erick Dickens ’ 96, that
spelled opportunity.
Through his job as associate
brand manager in the Post cereal divi-sion
at Kraft Foods, Dickens was put
in charge of successfully launching
the new line of Grape Nuts Trail Mix
Crunch to the public. What better way
to make a big splash than enlisting
the help of contestants on the fifth
season of NBC’s “ The Apprentice,”
under the watchful eye of none other
than Donald Trump? As the reality
show contestants plotted how to
advertise the cereal as part of their
challenge, the reality show, in reality,
would advertise the product to the
viewing audience.
“ In order to successfully launch
the cereal according to the strategy,
the show had to feature it,” Dickens
said. “ The contestants’ job was to
come up with billboard advertise-ments
for the product.” And that’s
precisely what happened, as week four
of the current season of the popular
TV program centered on the quest
for the perfect billboard campaign. Using his knowledge and
experience of product placement, Dickens integrated the new
cereal into the show. “ The show made the product a character,
and the contestants created tasks that surrounded that char-acter,”
he said.
During a four- month process of researching, planning
and maintaining the secrecy of the product, Dickens would
need to find a way convince a younger generation to eat a
100- year- old cereal brand that’s mostly popular among people
55 and older. He also saw how other product sales performed
after similar introductions. “ This type of marketing works
best for newer products,” he said. “ If you’re featured on a
show like this, you’d better be ready to produce.”
Dickens, who recently moved to the Dial Corp. as associ-ate
brand manager, was in charge of executing the entire proj-ect.
He worked closely with AIM Productions, which served
as the liaison between Kraft Foods and Burnett Productions,
the company that brings “ The Apprentice” and CBS’s “ Sur-vivor”
to the screen. The unusual promotional strategy was
Dickens’ idea, and it marked Kraft’s first time attempting to
introduce a new product in such a splashy fashion.
During his time at Western,
Dickens demonstrated a type of busi-ness
potential that would please even
a boss like Donald Trump. He gradu-ated
summa cum laude ( with highest
honors) and was the recipient of the
Outstanding Business Management
Student Award that same year. “ He was
such an upstanding and hard- work-ing
individual,” said Terry Kinnear,
associate professor of management at
Western. “ He’s one of those people
that you never forget, espe-cially
because he
was so
darn
good!
He’s a
true pro-fessional.”
After
his studies
at Western,
Dickens
served in the
U. S. Army
for eight years
as a pilot. He
flew Blackhawk
helicopters and
reconnaissance
aircraft while
serving as a company commander. “ It’s essentially running a
business within a business,” he said. After leaving the armed
forces, Dickens moved into the corporate environment of
Kraft Foods, a Fortune 500 company.
His experiences have influenced students to follow in
his footsteps, including his younger brother, Brian, a se-nior
computer information systems major at Western. “ My
brother is the reason why I chose to attend WCU,” the younger
Dickens said. “ I’ve always admired his accomplishments, and
I am very proud of him. Between his business degree from
Western and his officer training from the Army, he’s one of
the best employees a company can ask for.”
Although Dickens has now rubbed elbows with “ the Don-ald,”
he says it all has to start somewhere. “ You can do really
great things after Western,” he said. “ But you have to do great
things at Western.”
That’s one way to avoid hearing that dreaded phrase:
“ You’re fired.”
Alum Hires Donald Trump to do His Dirty Work
By GARY TAKACS ’ 06
alumniAchievements
A historian who rummaged through Appalachian Mountain
artifacts and archives as an undergraduate student at Western
Carolina University has been tapped to lead the museum
where he once toiled as an intern. Scott Philyaw ’ 83, WCU
associate professor of history, is the new director of the
Mountain Heritage Center, the university’s regional museum
that studies, documents and interprets the culture and history
of Southern Appalachia.
“ We have searched far and wide for the right person to move
our Mountain Heritage Center forward, and we are delighted
that someone who grew up in these very mountains is coming
on board to ensure that the fine work of this important cultural
resource continues,” Clifton Metcalf, vice chancellor for advance-ment
and external affairs, said in announcing the appointment.
“ Dr. Philyaw is no stranger to the Mountain Heritage Center
and, in fact, played a key role in developing the center’s inaugural
exhibit when he was an undergraduate student at WCU.”
Philyaw, who earned his bachelor’s degree in history from
WCU in 1983, traveled to Northern Ireland during his senior
year to conduct research and arrange for loans of artifacts for the
center’s inaugural exhibition on the migration of the Scotch- Irish
people. That display, which chronicles the arrival of settlers from
Scotland and Ireland in the mountains of Western North Caro-lina,
has evolved to become the museum’s permanent exhibit.
For Philyaw, who was born in Lenoir and grew up in Mor-ganton,
the lure of the history of the mountains goes further
back than his undergraduate days. “ My interest in the history of
this region began when I used to beg my grandmother for stories
about her youth in northern Jackson County,” he said. “ She told
me stories of her father, John Hipps, who worked in the timber
business, of her Cherokee neighbors and of Saturday shopping
trips to Sylva.”
After graduating from WCU, Philyaw went on to earn his
master’s degree in history from the College of William and
Mary and his doctorate in history from the University of North
Carolina– Chapel Hill. While at William and Mary, he worked
at Colonial Williamsburg and at an archaeological site at
Yorktown Battlefield. At UNC, he worked with the Southern
Historical Collection.
A member of WCU’s history faculty since 1996, Philyaw has
assisted the Mountain Heritage Center with several exhibits.
He has served as scholar- in- residence at Old Salem’s Museum
of Early Southern Decorative Arts and as an exhibit consultant
with The Orchard at Altapass in McDowell County. Working with
WCU students, he co- authored two pamphlets for the Blue Ridge
Parkway, including “ The Natural Diversity of Linville Falls,” which
won the 2002 Excellence in Interpretation Award for Trail Guides
from the National Park Service Cooperating Association.
Although he’ll be directing a museum that focuses on tradi-tions
of the past, Philyaw has plans to take its activities into the
future. “ The Mountain Heritage Center already has a successful
record, and one of my goals for the center is to build on its suc-cessful
outreach efforts by doing more community programming
and educational programs for the public schools, from kindergar-ten
through the 12th grade,” he said. “ I also wish to continue the
outreach work the center has done with other regional museums
and historic societies.”
Former History Student Intern Returns
To Lead WCU’s Mountain Heritage Center
By Bil Studenc
Scott Philyaw ’ 83
Mountain Heritage Center hours: 8 a. m.– 5 p. m. Monday– Friday; and 2– 5 p. m. Sunday, June– October.
( 828) 227- 7129 or www. wcu. edu/ mhc
alumniAchievements
“ Migration of the Scotch- Irish People.”
Permanent exhibition.
“ Grandma’s Attic.” Through June 2006.
“ After the War: Conflict and Domestic Change in the
North Carolina Mountains.” Through May 2007.
“ People of the Land.” Through June 2006.
Mountain Heritage Center
Erick Dickens ’ 96 and Donald Trump
The Magazine of Western Carolina 24 University SPRING 2006 SPRING 2006 The Magazine of Western Carolina University 25
The latest assignment sends Army Lt. Col.
John T. “ Tim” Ryan ’ 85 off to work in a tank
at the Pentagon – a think tank. Ryan, who is
assigned to the Army’s chief of plans and
operations, fires off ideas as he explores
strategic analysis and information. Part of his
job involves speech- writing, “ which is a bit
odd for a guy with an undergraduate degree in
industrial arts education,” he said.
But it was his writing that captured
attention from around the world last year. Ryan
was serving in Iraq when the way reporters were
covering the war got to him. He wrote to his
family and friends about it, and his words
became an essay. “ Print and video journalists
are covering only a fraction of the events in
Iraq,” he wrote, “ and, more often than not, the
events they cover are only negative.”
His statements were picked up by the World Tribune.
From there, Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage both read the
essay on their radio shows, and Ryan was interviewed by NBC,
Fox News, Time magazine and others. His assignment at the
Pentagon follows more than 20 years of service and earning a
master’s degree in military arts and
sciences from the School of Advanced
Military Studies in Fort Leavenworth,
Kan. Even before that, he was a
member of the N. C. Army National
Guard and a leader in ROTC when he
was a WCU student.
“ If I had to point to a couple of
attributes that have helped me to be
successful over the last 20 years since
graduation, I’d say a strong work ethic and
people skills have to be at the top of the
list,” Ryan said. “ Growing up in a rural
environment where folks are friendly,
work hard together and share the bounty
with neighbors and strangers alike has
helped me to get along with just about
anybody and make a positive impression
through hard work.”
Ryan pointed out that three of the U. S. Army’s 30 tank
battalions at one point had Western graduates at the helm.
“ There must be something in the water there in Cullowhee,”
he said light- heartedly.
Talents Take Industrial Arts Major to the Pentagon
Amanda Farris ’ 97 took her political science degree
from Western and a passion for politics all the way to Capitol
Hill, where she serves as lead staff for the House Republican
Conference on such issues as implementation of the No
Child Left Behind Act.
“ She’s up there where the action is taking place,” said
Don Livingston, professor of political science. “ She is helping
make very important decisions with far- reaching implications.
Amanda is a go- getter, no doubt about it.”
Farris works with a range of issues including education
reform, educational testing, literacy, education technology and
teacher quality. “ There is truly no typical day in my job,” she
said. Farris gives speeches, talks to interested parties about
policy, drafts legislation, gathers information about policies,
and selects witnesses for congressional hearings. Her mission
is translating the ideas of members of Congress into practice.
“ Sometimes this is easy because everyone can agree that a
problem has been identified and that it can be solved in a par-ticular
way,” Farris said. “ Other times, it is much more difficult.”
She had previously worked as professional staff in the U. S.
Senate and as a correspondent for U. S. Sen. Michael B. Enzi,
who represents Farris’ home state of Wyoming. Farris staffed
a subcommittee on education, welfare, childcare, arts, humani-ties,
national service, faith- based and human resources issues.
“ I always wanted to work in politics,” said Farris, who traces her
involvement in political organizations to high school.
Though born and raised in Laramie, Wyo., Farris said she
chose to study at Western where a friend of her family, Benny
Dees, was the basketball coach and a good friend, his daughter,
was a student. The university’s political science program and
Poli Sci Grad Builds Career on Capitol Hill
instructors such as Livingston helped prepare her for the work
she does now. “ Dr. Livingston is so passionate about politics
and political science that it was infectious,” Farris said. “ He
constantly made me want to learn and understand more about
the political process.”
While completing a degree at Western, she interned on
Sen. Bob Dole’s 1996 presidential campaign and in the office
of Republican Congresswoman Barbara Cubin of Wyoming,
solidifying her interest in political work and staying in Wash-ington,
D. C. Farris got established in the capital working with
a media consulting firm that made political commercials and
then landed a job on Enzi’s staff. Farris said she really enjoys her
work but has an interest, too, in state- level politics, advocacy
work for increased early childhood literacy and getting her
master’s degree.
Lt. Col. John T. “ Tim” Ryan ’ 85
Amanda Farris ’ 97
Western alumni aren’t the only Catamounts making their
marks in Washington, D. C., as several WCU students spent much
of the spring semester inside the beltway, gaining valuable hands-on
experience in their fields of study through the University of
North Carolina Washington Internship Program.
“ This is an extraordinary opportunity for students,” said
Niall Michelsen, head of WCU’s department of political science
and public affairs. “ This gives students the chance to experience
the political world both nationally and internationally. It exposes
them to the ‘ nitty gritty’ of political advocacy and policy making.”
Rebecca Gardner of Sanford, a senior majoring in English
with a minor in political science, is doing an internship at
C- SPAN’s “ BookTV.” Margaret McCollum of Oakboro, a senior
majoring in social science and history, worked at the Hudson
Institute, a policy research organization. Senior political science
and Spanish major Maria Segovia Sims of Whittier interned at
the Center for American Progress, a research and educational
institution. And Franklin resident Courtney Swartwout, a senior
majoring in communications and political science, worked with
the Washington office of N. C. Gov. Mike Easley.
They follow in the footsteps of recent WCU interns Sam
Hyde, a senior political science major from Statesville who worked
in the office of U. S. Rep. Bob Etheridge; Mike Blackmon ’ 05, a
political science graduate from Southern Pines who interned at
Cardinal Bank; Winston- Salem resident Jessica Jarrard, a se-nior
political science major who completed her internship with
Women Work; history and political science major Lisa Cameron
of Stanfield, who interned at the Woodrow Wilson House; Raleigh
resident Annie Decker, a junior political science major who worked
at NASA; and Rachel Hunnicutt of Canton, a senior communica-tions
major who did an internship in the office of U. S. Rep.
Charles Taylor.
WCU is among 14
of the 16 UNC cam-puses
that participate
in the program. During
their internship in
Washington, students
earn up to 12 credit
hours toward their
degree. The Washington
Internship Program
is open to juniors and
seniors of every major
in the UNC system.
Internship Program Places Students in Washington Capital Cats
Sam Hyde, Jessica Jarrard and Mike Blackmon ’ 05 ( left to right)
completed internships in Washington, D. C., as students from Western.
Student Margaret McCollum meets Gen. Peter Pace,
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
alumniAchievements
The Magazine of Western Carolina 26 University SPRING 2006 SPRING 2006 The Magazine of Western Carolina University 27
John “ Duck” Mosbey ’ 69 looked out at each new
graduating class of the Jordan International Police Train-ing
Center knowing many would not live through the year.
Many would not survive three months, and that was the
toughest part of his job directing training efforts there. “ Our
graduates were returning to the most dangerous police job
on the planet,” said Mosbey, who retired earlier this year and
returned to his Georgia hometown. “ Many, many had already
been killed or wounded in the line of duty.”
But he and about 400 instructors from 15 countries
stayed focused on the mission: Build a foundation for a po-lice
service in Iraq based on service to all citizens. They knew
their graduates’ jobs would be hard, protecting citizens from
terrorists in the battleground- like dry, dusty country where
temperatures climb higher than 115 degrees on summer
afternoons. “ All of us that have been involved in this effort
are waiting and watching with great concern to see if the
new government in Iraq can continue the momentum and
direction that has been established in these past two years
at the center,” Mosbey said.
Bernard J. Dougherty, WCU assistant professor of
criminal justice and former federal anti- terrorism agent, said
policemen and those who train them are targets for insur-gents
trying to keep the new government from succeeding.
“ Training new policemen has challenges on many levels, both
personal and professional, and the danger is both personal
and professional,” Dougherty said.
Mosbey has seen danger. During his 34 years of military
service, he logged more than 2,000 hours as a weapons sys-tems
officer and instructor in the Phantom fighter aircraft.
“ There was no room for error,” Mosbey said. He began his
military career as an enlisted soldier in the Army, later joined
the Air National Guard and ultimately rose to the rank of
colonel in the Air Force. His military service included an
assignment to the joint staff at the Pentagon as a lieutenant
colonel in the Counternarcoctics Operations Division. He
has helped police in the U. S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico
with anti- smuggling strategies, worked on the crisis action
team during Desert Shield/ Desert Storm and served as chief
of all National Guard counterdrug operations, domestically
and in Central and South America. He was executive director
for the Center for Homeland Defense and Security at the
Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., when asked to
go to Iraq in 2004 to advise police service rebuilding efforts.
He later moved to the Jordan police training center.
“ Every job I’ve had since graduating from Western has
been challenging and rewarding – and I feel like Western did
a great job of preparing me for life ‘ in the real world,’” Mos-bey
said. A “ deviant behavior” sociology class convinced him
to explore law enforcement, and his professors and coaches
taught him to push himself and never give up, he said. What
brought him to Western as a transfer student was partly a
desire to play football, though he had to forgo his senior year
when he received his draft notice. “ I had to get a deferred en-listment
just to be able to go to summer school and graduate
in August of 1969,” Mosbey said. He now holds additional
degrees in criminal justice from the University of Alabama
in Birmingham and a master’s degree in national security
and strategic studies from the Naval War College, but he has
never forgotten Western. “ I loved my time in Cullowhee, and
it’s been a life- long ambition to get back there for more than
just a ballgame here and there.”
Alum Trains Iraqi Police
By Teresa Kilian
The Class Notes section features news about personal or professional
accomplishments of Western alumni. Alumni are listed in the year in
which they earned their first degree at Western. City and county names
not otherwise identified are in North Carolina.
• classNOTES•
1952
Lt. Col. Robert Clifford
Brown MAEd, the first person
to receive a diploma for a
graduate degree at Western,
died Jan. 25 at the age of 88.
At commencement in 1952,
Western Carolina Teachers
College awarded 22 people
the institution’s first master’s
degrees in education, and Brown
was the first in the alphabetically
arranged line to be given his
diploma. His career in education
included nearly 40 years of
teaching physics, chemistry and
biology with Asheville City and
Buncombe County schools. He
also taught in Charlotte and
Largo, Fla. Fifty years after Brown
earned his master’s degree,
Western welcomed him back
to campus for commencement
as his daughter, Linda Brown
Adams MPA ’ 02, received a
master’s degree.
1955
President Emeritus of Asheville-
Buncombe Technical Community
College, Harvey L. Haynes
MA ’ 64 ( above) recently was
elected chairman of the board
of trustees of the college.
Western’s nursing program in
Asheville is located on the Enka
campus of A- B Tech in a building
named in honor of Haynes.
1968
At the Cattle Industry Annual
Convention in February,
Waynesville cattleman
John Queen was elected
president- elect of the National
Cattlemen’s Beef Association,
the largest organization
representing America’s cattle
industry. Queen is president and
owner of John Queen Farms, a
third- generation cattle operation
founded in 1917. Commenting
on his election, he said, “ I am so
proud of what NCBA and its
affiliates and councils have done
for producers over the years,
particularly last year to support
producers hit hard by the
hurricanes. That’s what NCBA
is about for me: producers
helping producers.” Queen also
owns and operates Southeast
Livestock Exchange, a video-telemarketing
service covering
the southeast region. He is
a past president of the N. C.
Cattlemen’s Association and is
a member and director of the
Haywood County Cattlemen’s
Association.
1973
Principal at Oak Hill Year- Round
Elementary School in High
Point for six years, Bill Hoke
has been with Guilford County
Schools for 16 years. He also
has taught at Oak Ridge Military
Academy and Randolph County
Schools.
1974
The board of directors of Pard-ee
Hospital in Hendersonville
recently elected as its chair for
2006 Marcia Caserio MAEd
’ 76, ( above) Regional Direc-tor
of Education Outreach for
Western Carolina University.
A member of the board since
2000, she previously served as
vice chair of the hospital board
and chair of the board for West-ern
Carolina Medical Associates,
an affiliate of Pardee.
1976
The North Carolina Nurses
Association has named Carol
Durham ( above) the 2005
NCNA Educator of the Year. For
17 years, she has been director
of the Clinical Education and
Resource Center and a clinical
associate professor at UNC–
Chapel Hill School of Nursing. In
her letter of support, the dean
of the School of Nursing said,
“ Carol is first of all a brilliant and
beloved teacher. She continually
updates her content and
pedagogical strategies, which
has kept the school as a leading
innovator in clinical education
for the past 17 years. She is
single- handedly responsible for
recruiting more future nursing
faculty than anyone else at the
school.… She is a role model
to students, faculty and other
administrators and someone I
would always want to have on
my team.” When she accepted
the award, Durham said, “ One
of my greatest desires in life
has always been to make a
difference in the lives of those
around me. As a nurse educator,
I have been given the privilege
to do just that.… Helping
people, whether a student or
patient, to be all they can be, is
one of the highest callings.”
1979
Previously a commercial banker,
in February Kyle Garrou
( above) was promoted to
community banker by SunTrust
Bank in Lenoir, where he has
alumniAchievements
John “ Duck” Mosbey ’ 69 directed training for a new Iraqi police force
focused on service to citizens.
The Magazine of Western Carolina 28 University SPRING 2006 SPRING 2006 The Magazine of Western Carolina University 29
Stylin’ Success
Van D. Stamey ’ 85 used to earn up to $ 30 a week filling
bottles of salon products after school at his family’s business
in Kannapolis. “ I thought I was making a lot of money, and
I was, considering I was a 12- year- old in 1973,” Stamey said.
“ We only had one tank and no filling machines, so we liter-ally
filled bottles right out of the tank by cracking the valve
and allowing gravity to let the product run into the bottles.”
Gravity wasn’t always so friendly, though. A high school- age
Stamey neglected to secure a tank’s valve one day and 300
gallons of conditioner spilled onto the floor.
He was determined to stay all night to make things
right. That determination continues to grow the success
of the business today. Stamey, CEO of ThermaFuse, said
the company has grown to nearly 50 employees working
at the production facility and another two dozen who visit
and work with 1,500 salons nationwide. The company has
earned industry recognition, too, with recent nominations
for “ ABBIES,” which are awards from America’s Best Beauty
Industry Efforts for Salons that some consider the Oscars of
the beauty industry.
Upon graduating from Western, Stamey went to work
full- time at the business that his father started after return-ing
home to Kannapolis after the Korean War. His dad was
intent on not going to work at the cotton mill. Instead, he
went to barber school, launched his own salon and, in 1967,
won the National Hairstylist of the Year award. Frustration
with manufacturers of personal care products for salons
inspired him to take a new direction and make his own
products.
Today, ThermaFuse continues to cater to salon
and spa owners, declining to sell to large chains or
“ big box stores” in order to be sensitive what
independent salon owners need. They also
have improved the quality of their prod-uct
with help from technical director
Mark Ragan ’ 85, a chemistry gradu-ate
from Western. Ragan helped de-velop
formulas for new products that
use a combination of a wheat protein
molecule and a molecule from a type
of silicone. “ Mark combined this
technology with other cutting- edge
chemistry to create HeatSmart
Complex,” Stamey said. “ HeatSmart
Complex protects and repairs heat-styled
hair and it works better at
an elevated temperature like one
would get from a blow dryer, curl-ing
iron, or flat iron. It is the first
ingredient in all our formulas.”
The products are top- notch, says Sandy Powell, owner of
It’s All About You at North Chase in Wilmington, but what
really makes the company stand out to her is its service.
When she bought a starter color kit, ThermaFuse offered
free training whether two employees or 10 could attend.
The company hosts regular events in which customers can
tour the facility, visit their homes and participate in training
or discussion forums. Powell said she brought up a frustra-tion
with the packing material – peanuts. Today, her bottles
come packed in air pillows. When salon owners asked for a
wax styling pomade, ThermaFuse formulated one that fit
the product line. Powell said she has never had that type of
service before. “ You know how they do business,” she said.
“ You meet their parents, children and spouses. You see their
home on Lake Norman. I am not just a number. They know
me by name. They know my family. They know my business.
If they are successful, they deserve to be.”
Alums Leave WCU Well- Conditioned for Business
By Teresa Kilian
Western’s nursing alumnae, including some
who graduated more than 30 years ago, are
turning their attention back to the campus and
asking an important question: “ What can we do
to help?”
Aware that talented students and well- quali-fied
practitioners are needed to meet a growing
national shortage of nurses, these experienced
professionals have just launched a new Nursing
Alumni Association to raise money for scholar-ships
and equipment and to create a supportive
network for recent graduates.
Diane Gupton Oakley ’ 73, a member
of Western’s first nursing class, was elected
president at the newly formed association’s
meeting in March. Oakley said the organiza-tion
is especially interested in welcoming recent
nursing graduates to future meetings so they
can exchange ideas and information with alumni
who have been in the profession for years. “ The
time is right,” she said. “ Together, we can help to
strengthen Western’s nursing program.”
Sue Lynn Ledford ’ 79, elected
vice president of the association,
said, “ We need to encourage
students to enroll in the nursing
program and give them someone
who is behind them with encour-agement
so they will get a good
start and stay in the profession.”
Ledford, who says she has worked
the full range of nursing assign-ments,
added, “ When students
see that you’ve been there and
done that and you understand
what it feels like to experience
some of the challenges they are
facing, they know you’re someone
who can understand what they’re
going through. Leaders in the field who can offer
advice or expertise can make a difference.”
Rebecca Warren ’ 89, who will serve as
the association’s secretary/ treasurer, agrees.
Dropped suddenly into a supervisory position
in her first job, Warren said, “ It would have been
great to have someone to call for advice.” Now,
with 17 years of experience in hospital and home
health settings, she’s pleased that she and other
alumnae will have an opportunity to help new
nurses.
Also elected to the executive committee
were Susan Kresmeyer ’ 90, alumni/ volunteer
coordinator; and Mabel Carlyle ’ 73, bylaws.
Judy Mallory served as faculty liaison as the new
group was forming, and Sharon Metcalfe has now
assumed that role for the association.
Want to join? Contact Metcalfe at Metcalfe@
email. wcu. edu or call ( 828) 670- 8810. Updates
on the organization’s progress and programs will
be available on the Alumni Affairs Web page at
http:// alumni. wcu. edu/.
Nursing Grads Looking for Ways to Help
worked since 1993. He also
is director of the Education
Foundation of Caldwell County
and secretary of Region E
Development Council. He and
wife Terri live in Lenoir with sons
Elliott and Jacob.
1980
In February, Don Hunt was
named assistant vice president for
nursing at Baxter Regional Medical
Center in Mountain Home, Ark.
Employed at Baxter Regional for
the past 20 years, he has worked
as clinical coordinator, nurse leader
and wellness program coordinator
and has experience in the medical
surgical unit, critical care unit,
intensive care unit, emergency
department, surgery and post-anesthesia
care unit.
1984
Associate professor in the
emergency medical care program
at Eastern Kentucky University,
Sandy Hunter received
his doctorate in educational
psychology from the University of
Kentucky in December. His areas
of research focused on diversity,
career choices and self- efficacy.
1987
In October, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush
appointed as county judge Edwin
Jagger, a member of the St.
Petersburg law firm of Battaglia,
Ross, Dicus and Wein since
graduating from Stetson University
Law School in 1991. He lives in
Seminole with wife Melissa and
son Jacob.
1988
After spending 15 years in
the textile industry as a sales
representative for SI Corporation
in South Carolina, Tennessee and
Georgia, Audrey Arrington
• classNOTES•
Sanders has returned to her
native Western North Carolina. A
technical sales support engineer
for Eaton Electrical at the
company’s Avery Creek facility
in Arden, she recently moved to
Waynesville with husband Gary,
who works as a building inspector
for Henderson County, and
daughters Rachel, 11, and Katie, 7.
1993
Jean Ellen Sutton Snipes
MAEd is serving her fifth year as
principal of the LEAP Academy
with Burke County Schools.
Referred from the five middle
schools in the county, students at
the academy complete two years
( eighth and ninth grades) of study
during one year and then enter
high school as sophomores.
1994
At the North Carolina
Conference for Excellence in
December, plant manager Scott
Fullbright was honored because
his plant, Rockwell Automation
in Marion, was recognized by
Industry Week as one of the 10
best plants in North America for
2004. Bill Payne MBA ’ 00, an
existing industry specialist with the
N. C. Department of Commerce,
presented Fullbright with a N. C.
state flag in the name of Gov. Mike
Easley and Commerce Secretary
James Fain III. In his comments,
Payne said, “ Rockwell Automation’s
Marion facility is a leader because
it uses state- of- the- art tools, and
its employees are cross- trained
to perform at least three jobs.…
It benchmarks itself against the
top companies in the world. It
provides its employees with the
tools and training to get their jobs
done and get them done right.
Rockwell Automation is the kind
of company that North Carolina
strives to recruit, retain and help
grow.”
1997
Son Talmadge Garrett Kanistras
was born to Autumn Nelson
and Todd Kanistras ’ 95 in
September.
1998
J. Michelle Gurley accepted
a faculty position as clinical
instructor in the department of
communicative disorders at East
Tennessee State University. She
lives in Elizabethton and says the
new job is going very well.
• classNOTES•
Van Stamey ’ 85
has led the development of a
new line of ThermaFuse hair products
for salons and spas.
Members of Western’s first nursing class gather for a group photograph.
The Magazine of Western Carolina 30 University SPRING 2006 SPRING 2006 The Magazine of Western Carolina University 31
Our Fathers,” a story about
the Ottawa Chief Pontiac’s war
against English expansion at the
end of the French and Indian
War; and “ The Golden Harp,” a
tale of Napoleon’s Irish Legion.
He also is co- editor of “ The
Pisgah Review,” publisher for
Broadsides Press, and owner of
Tall Ships Books online bookstore,
the largest distributor of nautical
fiction in the world. Last May,
Global Talk Radio interviewed him
about his publishing company and
the publication of “ The Broken
Sword.”
2003
A resident of Franklin, Shaun
Moss ( above) publishes
Expressions magazine and says
it is “ a great way to stay in touch
with your mountain experiences”
( www. expressionsmag. com). He is
married to Nalann Suon.
2005
Motivated to join the Peace Corps
by her desire to “ help others and
the desire to become an advocate
for developing countries,” Clare
Sabo left in March for Senegal,
West Africa. A significant part of
her service will include initiating
and developing a process aimed
at empowering urban and peri-urban
farmers to use appropriate
technologies to increase
agricultural production.
As the academic qualifications of students at Western
continue to rise, so does the need for scholarships.
Last year, gifts to The Loyalty Fund provided more than 200 academic scholarships.
Y our gift will enable us to attract and retain today’s scholars and tomorrow’s leaders.
You can help change a life.
Cody Wingler Hiddenite, N. C.
Contribute to
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1- 800- 492- 8496
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2001
Now in her third year as a
student at The Juilliard School of
the Arts in New York City, Bobbi
“ Tokii” Baker ( above) has had
roles in numerous productions at
the school. She portrayed Ruth
in “ A Raisin in the Sun,” Agnes
in “ A Bright Room Called Day”
and Madam Glafira Glumova
in “ Diary of a Scoundrel.” In
addition, she originated several
roles for Juilliard playwrights.
Baker’s upcoming roles include
Thaisa in Shakespeare’s “ Pericles”
and a feature in four selections in
the Juilliard Annual Cabaret.
Employed by Sam Underwood,
CPA, in Waynesville, Lindsey
Metcalf MAc ’ 02 married
Charles Dills Jr. last October.
In December, Deborah Neal
( above) was promoted to
financial services manager at First
Citizens Bank in Fletcher.
2002
Charles White MA ’ 04
recently celebrated the
publication of “ The Broken
Sword,” his second historical
novel. Like his first book, “ The
Loyalist’s Son,” this one is
set during the Revolutionary
War. The sequel to “ The
Broken Sword” is scheduled
for publication in 2006
under the title “ Men of War.”
White, a visiting instructor in
Western’s English department,
also is researching two other
historical novels: “ Ghosts of
• classNOTES• • classNOTES•
When he grad-uated
from high
school in 1937,
Edwin Young ’ 41,
a native of Franklin,
initially planned
to study forestry
in Georgia, but he
didn’t have enough
money for out-of-
state tuition.
Instead, Young
reluctantly entered
what was then
Western Carolina Teachers College and lived with
his sister who was studying to become a teacher.
To his surprise, Young says, “ I fell in love
with Cullowhee and the college.” He left briefly
during his junior year to fly with the Air Corps in
Texas. When that didn’t work out, he returned
to WCTC and graduated in the summer of
1941 with a major in science and a minor in
physical education.
Although jobs were scarce, he found work in
Toccoa, Ga., earning $ 100 a month as a coach and
science teacher. He remembers that the students
came to school for half the day during the sum-mer
and then went home to pick cotton. In the
fall, Young contacted his colleagues at nearby
schools to organize athletic competition. He got
seven replies, and his football team won four of
its first seven games. Next, he was persuaded to
coach the girls’ basketball team, and that squad,
too, enjoyed a winning season.
Then came Pearl Harbor. Young was recalled
to the military, joined the Air Force, earned his
commission as a second lieutenant and served
as a bombardier, flying
35 missions in North
Africa. After that, he
was sent as a trainer to
New Mexico, where he
met the woman who
became his wife of 62
years, Hazel Thomas.
In early 1946, they
moved with their son
to her home state of
Texas. Young got a job
as an insurance sales-man
and stayed in the
business until he retired in 1982.
Young returned to Western just once, in
1992, when he came back for the 50th reunion
of the Class of 1942. “ They had just built the
Alumni Tower,” he remembers. “ The campus had
changed so much I hardly knew the place – differ-ent
roads, different buildings.” But he liked what
he saw then, and he still is pleased with what’s
going on.
“ It’s on the right track. No doubt about
that,” Young says. “ I get the newsletters and read
what’s going on. I didn’t come into town on a
load of turnips – I can see that it’s going up, up,
up.” His desire to support that progress prompted
him to join the Catamount Club, Young says.
“ They needed funds. I hadn’t been able to send
any for a good long while. Now that I’m able, I
wanted to support the university.”
To others in a similar situation, he makes
this appeal: “ If you went to school there, think
about your school days and what it meant for you
to go to Western and what it can be in the future.
Let your heart dictate what you can do.”
1941 Graduate Joins Catamount Club
By LEILA TVEDT
Edwin Young ’ 41
Hundreds of kids call Anthony James ’ 84 “ Coach A. J.”
at practice most weekdays. James opened the door of track
and field to them through what originated as a track and
field club for Charlotte inner city youth, and over the past
decade, 42 became national champions in events ranging
from the long jump to the 800- meter run. “ But more impor-tant,”
James says, “ is that most became productive
citizens.” Between 1992 and 2004, 124 of the kids
he has worked with through Charlotte Flight Track
and Field Club have gone to college on athletic or
academic scholarships.
As athletic coordinator for Mecklenburg
County Park and Recreation Department, James
is responsible for working with the Police Athletic
League and overseeing county activities at the
track at Johnson C. Smith University. But he also
co- founded Charlotte Flight Track and Field Club,
and last year won an award for volunteer service
from the National Association of County Parks and
Recreation Officials.
At Western, James was a long jump and
triple jump champion. He also starred as tailback
for the football team and has been inducted into
the school’s athletic hall of fame. He is a certified
Track and Field Coach, and says track and field
gives many kids a chance to see a life they never
knew about. “ What we teach them isn’t just athletics,” said
James, of the organization started in 1991. “ We tutor them
for school, teach them about taking the SAT test, tell them to
eat healthy foods and take them to see college campuses.”
Reprinted in edited form from Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation
“ Coach A. J.” Helps Inner City Kids Find Direction
Anthony James ’ 84 coaches track and field programs that benefit Charlotte youth.
32 The Magazine of Western Carolina University SPRING 2006 SPRING 2006 The Magazine of Western Carolina University 33
Sunday , June 18– Friday , June 23
Mountain Dulcimer Week— the country’s top performers and educators
share their experience and skill. Evening concerts Monday, Tuesday and
Wednesday. ( 828) 227- 7397 or http:// edoutreach. wcu. edu
Sunday , June 18
Sunday Sizzlin’ Summer Shorts Series—“ War Bonds: The Songs and
Letters of World War II ( Musical Cabaret)” 3 p. m. Fine and Performing
Arts Center. ( 828) 227- 2479 or http:// fapac. wcu. edu/ Performances. html
July
Sunday , July 2
Sunday Sizzlin’ Summer Shorts Series—“ Hal Holbrook in Mark Twain
Tonight!” 3 p. m. Fine and Performing Arts Center. ( 828) 227- 2479
or http:// fapac. wcu. edu/ Performances. html
Sunday , July 16– Thursday , July 20
Pride of the Mountains Marching Band Summer Symposium.
( 828) 227- 7608 or www. wcu. edu/ prideofthemountains
Wednesday , July 19–
Saturday , July 22
The Cullowhee Conference: Native Plants in the Landscape— increase
interest in and knowledge of propagating and preserving native
Southeastern plant species in the landscape. ( 828) 227- 7397
or http:// edoutreach. wcu. edu
Sunday , July 30
Sunday Sizzlin’ Summer Shorts Series—“ Laughing with the Legends:
Music, Memories, and Merriment from the Fabulous 50s!” 3 p. m.
Fine and Performing Arts Center. ( 828) 227- 2479
or http:// fapac. wcu. edu/ Performances. html
August
Friday , August 4
Summer Commencement. 7 p. m. Ramsey Regional Activity Center.
( 828) 227- 7495
• classNOTES•
May
Saturday , May 6
Spring Commencement. 2 p. m. Ramsey Regional Activity Center.
( 828) 227- 7495
Thursday , May 11– Sunday , May 14
Softball— Southern Conference Softball Championship.
Chattanooga, Tenn. ( 828) 227- 7338
Friday , May 12– Sunday , May 14
Catamount baseball— vs. Kennesaw State. Game time varies.
Childress Field/ Hennon Stadium. ( 828) 227- 7338
Friday , May 19– Sunday , May 21
Catamount baseball— vs. Furman. Southern Conference game.
Game time varies. Child